NATO: We will not allow the conflict to progress beyond Ukraine 2:23
(CNN) --
For years, Russian President Vladimir Putin has enjoyed life as an influential political figure in many European Union member states.
Even in countries that have taken a strong line against the Kremlin since Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014, Putin has sought opportunities to join populist political movements that promote an anti-Western agenda and undermine confidence in mainstream European politics.
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Two weeks of war have revealed cracks in Putin's master plan for Ukraine
Putin has repeatedly associated himself with prominent Eurosceptic opposition figures, including France's Marine Le Pen, Italy's Matteo Salvini, the Netherlands' Geert Wilders and, perhaps most damaging to the EU, Viktor Orban, the Prime Minister of Hungary.
Whether that support is through token visits to and from Moscow or direct funding, vocal populists who dismiss the threat from Russia have played a role in Putin's goal of dividing Europe and preventing him from taking meaningful action against a Russia. belligerent.
Putin's invasion of Ukraine has led to many of those who had previously been close to Putin now seeking to distance themselves from the Kremlin.
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Russia's President Vladimir Putin (L) speaks with Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban (R) during their meeting in Moscow on February 1, 2022.
Earlier this week, far-right Italian politician Salvini, a longtime staunch opponent of mass migration, visited Przemysl, a city in Poland that shares a border with Ukraine, ostensibly to show his support for Ukraine, Poland and the refugees forced to flee their homes.
When he arrived, the mayor of Przemysl told Salvini to "see what your friend Putin has done," brandishing a T-shirt with the Russian president's face on it.
In 2014, Salvini was seen wearing an identical jersey while he was visiting Moscow.
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Meanwhile, French presidential candidate Le Pen has had to walk a tightrope, defending her previous ties to Putin, which involved financial support from Russian banks.
Her party has historically defended her association with Putin, but Le Pen herself had to admit that she ran an "authoritarian regime" and that the invasion of Ukraine is a "clear direct violation of international law and absolutely indefensible."
The Russian invasion has forced Hungary's Orban to "condemn Russia's armed offensive" and allow NATO troops and weapons to pass through Hungary, though he has tried to mitigate Russia's pushback by preventing weapons from traveling directly from Hungary. to Ukraine.
Putin's aggressive behavior, of course, is nothing new.
All of these political figures saw what Russia did in 2014 and still had relations with the Kremlin.
What did they gain by befriending an autocrat?
The mayor of Przemysl holds up a t-shirt with the image of Vladimir Putin as Matteo Salvini speaks to journalists on March 8, 2022.
The answer to that is more complicated than a simple financial transaction.
Of course, in the case of Le Pen's loans from Russian banks and Orban's financing for a nuclear power plant, Russia presented an investment opportunity that both would have struggled to find elsewhere.
Katalin Cseh, a Hungarian MEP, explains that in recent years, European money has come with strings attached, such as obeying EU rules on human rights and freedom of expression.
"There is a very clear financial benefit to dealing with Putin, especially at a time when European money comes in with questions about media freedoms, human rights and corruption, which Putin doesn't care about," he told CNN.
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However, it is more than money that many of these fringe groups see in Putin.
He also represents a kind of political leadership that stands in direct contrast to what many conservative Europeans see as Brussels' liberal agenda, one they say promotes the Europe-threatening inclusion of traditional Judeo-Christian values.
Andrius Kubilius, a former prime minister of Lithuania and current member of the European Parliament, told CNN that Putin's aim in this regard was always transparent.
"Putin's strategy was to find people within the European Union who would support some of his most radical internal political and social ideas. He understood very well that this is how they divide us politically, dividing the European Council and Parliament so that we cannot take strong , unified positions against him," Kubilius said.
Italy's Interior Minister Matteo Salvini (right) hugs Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban before a meeting in Milan on August 28, 2018.
Those political and social ideas include things like anti-LGBT laws, undermining the independent judiciary, and stifling press freedom.
"Many of the liberal groups in the European Parliament hate the kind of traditional conservatism they see in Russia," said Gunnar Beck, an MEP from Germany's right-wing populist Alternative fur Deutschland party.
Speaking about his party and its partners within the European Parliament, Beck told CNN that "many of us oppose the fashionable social trends of our time, some of which are promoted with public money. We look at Russia and see a European country where these problems have not gone too far, as we see it".
While Beck called Putin's invasion a "clear violation of international law," he and others like him still feel that the West's anger at Russia's behavior is sometimes "deeply hypocritical" and see Putin as an example. of a leader who defends the "heritage and values" of his country.
In this sense, the kind words flowing from Europe's populists to Moscow and vice versa feed a particular political narrative that suits all parties.
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Russia has the tanks and the troops.
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For those Eurosceptic Europeans, Putin's Russia is a country that does not tolerate things they believe erode the social and moral fabric of the country, such as LGBT rights and mass immigration.
They see no cognitive dissonance in condemning Putin's war while applauding his resistance to liberal and modern values.
For Putin, these European cheerleaders present an opportunity to sow disunity both in the EU and in the wider Western alliance.
“Putin's tool was to sow uncertainty in Europe, promoting a set of values very different from ours.
For years, the Kremlin has used disinformation to exploit people and maximize divisions in society," European Parliament President Roberta Metsola told CNN.
Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with Marine Le Pen at the Moscow Kremlin on March 24, 2017.
However, she believes "the war has changed everything" in ways that will last "probably for a long time."
"He has underestimated the determination of Europe and the importance that Europeans attach to freedom and democracy, just as he has underestimated the resilience and resistance of the Ukrainian people," Metsola said.
Putin's actions have likely made him such a pariah that the security map of Europe has changed forever.
Senior European and NATO diplomats previously told CNN that the invasion of Ukraine has rapidly advanced thinking about security.
Historically, it has been very difficult to get an agreement from the EU on any foreign policy issue;
now they are passing sanctions packages and increasing defense spending at a rate unthinkable a few weeks ago.
Putin's ruthless violence will also affect the domestic politics of those who previously stood by him.
Le Pen is likely to be reluctant to highlight her ties to the Russian president ahead of French elections in April.
Cseh notes that Hungary's elections, also in April, will force Orban to walk a tightrope with his traditional voters, whom Cseh says he has told for years that "the EU is the enemy and Putin is a great guy." ".
Putin's invasion has already cost him dearly, in terms of his complicated but ultimately beneficial relationship with the rest of Europe.
And as the war progresses, it is likely that, in addition to the economic pain and personal losses, he will live the rest of his life as a persona non grata with some of the people who helped him increase his wealth, and that of Russia. , and its status as a global player that the rest of the world was willing to work with.
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Vladimir Putin
