Russia Abroad, Russia at Home: The Paradox of Russia’s Support for the Far Right

Abstract

The rise of the Far Right has been a steady global phenomenon, illustrated by political leaders such as Narendra Modi, Geert Wilders and Jair Bolsonaro. One of the main facilitators of this rise is Russia, supporting Far Right campaigns and movements in various regions of the world. Moreover, the Far Right parties around the world look to Russia as a beacon of hope, enticed by the messaging of Russia Today, Russia’s state-run international news network, and other curated social media platforms. While some argue that Russia’s support of the Far Right is an extension of its domestic values, we posit that this support is mainly to serve Russia’s strategic foreign policy and that the Far Right ideology has little to do with Russia’s domestic values and policy. In fact, Russia’s domestic stability depends on values that are contrary to classic understandings of the Far Right. Given the multi-ethnic and multi-religious composition of the Russian Federation, the classic parameters of Far Right discourse would undermine the stability so dear to Putin. To support our propositions, we use comparative case studies of Russia’s messaging abroad in Germany and the U.S. We then contrast this messaging and support with Russia’s domestic rhetoric. In all cases, we engage in a systematic analysis of relevant documents, transcripts of elite speeches and media.