Europe’s Russia-Friendly Parties Put to the Test by Putin’s Invasion of Ukraine

Abstract

Over the last decade, a number of non-mainstream European parties have cultivated friendly and mutually advantageous relations with the Russian political establishment. This phe-nomenon has been common to both the national conservative right and the radical left. This article critically discusses these parties’ adaptation to the new political context triggered by Rus-sia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and assesses their strategies and tactics to adapt to the new reality. The cases analysed include primarily Western European Russia-friendly political forces and the level of analysis focuses both on the domestic and supranational EU-level dynamics.