EXPLAINED: Can Putin Hijack the EU Elections?

How much of Putin’s influence will get into the EU Parliament after June elections?

The current Russian regime, shaped by the organizational culture of the Soviet KGB, is constantly finding new weak points and subversion tactics to undermine Western political systems, liberal institutions and pluralistic politics.

One can only say in advance with certainty that there will be attempts at infiltration. To what extent these will be successful and how well prepared the constitutional protectors of democratic states are for the attack will only be known after the event.

It is hoped that the 2016 US presidential election, which Donald Trump narrowly won, presumably with the help of Russian covert operations, should serve as a warning to all those involved in parliamentary and other elections in the EU.

Which parties in which countries are particularly close to Putin and could represent his interests in the EU Parliament?

Most centrist European parties with once pro-Russian tendencies are now clearly anti-Putin in light of Russia’s war of annihilation against Ukraine since 2022. So, it’s almost all about various radical parties.

Today, the German far-right Alternative for Germany, or AfD, is probably the most important pro-Russian political actor not only in Germany, but also at the European level.

However, unlike before 2022, European nationalists as a whole are no longer united in their support for Russia. The Italian right, for example, was largely pro-Putin under the leadership of [Silvio] Berlusconi, [Matteo] Salvini and their likes; this has changed under [Giorgia] Meloni.

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There is also great disagreement among the European radical left.

The Hungarian government, which can now be described as a collective agent of the Kremlin in the EU and NATO, plays a special role. However, Hungary has little weight in the European Parliament.

Are there individual politicians (from Germany or other countries) who could champion Putin in the EU Parliament, especially with regard to his war against Ukraine?

The future AfD group in the European Parliament will play a prominent role in this respect under Maximilian Krah and Peter Bystron. Especially as its leadership is obviously not only ideologically close to Russia, but is also financially committed to the Kremlin.

The ideological ghost-walking of the AfD, which is now dominated by [Björn] Höcke’s former so-called “Wing” (i.e.,the now defunct intraparty clearly extremist faction), has gone so far that the French right-wing radicals – by no means moderates! – no longer want to form a coalition with their German colleagues.

Marine Le Pen has also distanced herself from Moscow, despite her earlier flirtation with Putin, in light of the Russian genocidal warfare in Ukraine.

The AfD, on the other hand, is still on a pro-Russian course. This is despite the fact that a nationalist party would be expected to have sympathy for Ukrainians who are fighting and dying to preserve their national independence, statehood, borders, culture and identity.