Comfortable bed-fellows? Russia and the radical right after the Crimean annexation

Abstract

This study examines the radical rightist stances of the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), the Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs (FPÖ), the Front National (FN), Jobbik Movement for a Better Hungary (Jobbik), the UK Independence Party (UKIP), and the Vlaams Belang (VB) on Russia in the light of the Ukrainian crisis, in particularly the Crimean crisis. A focus will be placed on the radical right’s foreign policy agenda, and how this shaped their perspective towards Russia. In the past, the scholarship in this field has mostly ignored this topic in favour of analysing the internal dimension. Over the last couple years, the field has expanded to include external factors, such as Euroscepticism and Russophilia. However, most research chose to heavily feature anti- EU sentiments. Thus, questions regarding the relationship between Russia and the radical right remained unanswered. Through an analysis of party programs, voting patterns, and debates in the European Parliament, this thesis measures how and to what extend pro-Russian sentiments have manifested in the external dimension of the radical right. Additionally, patterns of pro-Russian and/or anti-Russian stances, are used to complement this analysis. Regardless of their attitude towards Russia, the findings suggest that the Russian Federation has recently started to appear on the radical right foreign policy agenda. In regard to the FN, the FPÖ, and Jobbik similar pragmatic and Eurosceptic arguments were brought forward to indicate a positive stance towards Russia. The VB supports some of these pragmatic principles as well, but generally perceives Russia in more neutral terms. Finally, those that are critical of the Russian Federation, primarily the AfD and UKIP, tend to use diverging reasons to support their view. As a consequence, patterns on radical right-Russia relations present a rather mixed perspective.