r/europeanunion • u/ElTristoMietitor • 1d ago
Question Are EU's far-right parties getting funded by Russia?
I might not be the first to think that far-right, anti-EU parties across Europe are getting funded by Russia (or should I say Terroruzzia?).
Let me share a quick story from Italy:
In 2019, Matteo Salvini, leader of the party Lega per Salvini Premier) (part of the European political group Patriots.eu), was accused of engaging in shady dealings with Russian oligarchs. Allegedly, through a middleman, Salvini’s party tried to broker a deal to sell Russian diesel to the Italian oil company ENI. If the deal had gone through, Salvini’s party would have pocketed around €60 million to fund its political campaigns.
Now here’s the kicker: back then, Salvini’s party was extremely anti-EU, and at the same time, a huge admirer of Russia, especially Putin.
This raises a big question for me: are far-right parties, which are gaining significant traction across Europe, being funded by Russia? Could this be part of a deliberate Russian strategy to destabilize the EU and weaken us from within?
What do you think? I’d love to hear your perspective.
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u/Silver_Implement5800 1d ago
Back then? Salvini?
That fat greasy mortadella-sh*tting mouth-breather still very much is a Putin admirer.
If it wasn’t a political suicide right now, he’d very much call Zelenskyy a warmonger.
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u/edo4rd-0 1d ago
Nah, Salvini doesn't have any political idea to call his own, he just goes where the wind blows. He went from being a communist humanities college student, to a secessionist, to a federalist nationalist, to... idk, kinda irrelevant? People are starting to see through the rethoric and his inability to do anything substantial is starting to show
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u/Silver_Implement5800 1d ago
What you are saying is true, he’s a populist amoeba.
But internationally he demonstrated his sympathies for Putin more than once, even recently.
Remember when he congratulated him for winning the elections?What’s happening right now, in my opinion, is that he’s carrying water for Trump to help Putin by proxy.
The layman's view of Trump is that he’s still pretty favourable to Russia, after all.5
u/ElTristoMietitor 1d ago
Yeah, I mean back then he was loudly saying it. Right now, as you said, it'd be a political suicide (count his party lost most of his popularity because of Meloni). But that was just an example of Terroruzzia's interferences in our business. I could talk about the Romanian's election to make another example.
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u/trisul-108 1d ago
Salvini's party actually signed a cooperation agreement with Putin's party. Farage has reportedly received Russian funding, and the same was reported for Le Pen. Then we have all these ex-PMs, ex-Chancellors and ex-Ministers that are involved in business dealings with Putin, Schroeder stands out in this.
Finally, we see leftist figures like Corbyn and Mélenchon also on record echoing Putin's narratives. This is the most absurd connection with the far-left aligned with fascists like Putin. Obviously, it cannot be ideology and anti-Americanism alone cannot explain the extent of support Putin's fascist Russia gets on the left.
Putin considers us the enemy so I think all non-bribed politicians avoid him like the plague ... and many politicians don't, and even echo his attacks on our values and way of life. Where there is so much smoke, there must also be some fire. And considering the ability of KGB to hide money trails, I think we need to interpret the smoke to mean actual evidence of fire. There is no legitimate reason for any EU politician to echo Putin's hate for our values and way of life.
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u/ElTristoMietitor 1d ago
Farage (or as I like to call him, FROMAGE) should be processed for the damage he's done to the UK by his Brexit lying campaign.
I really can't believe the brits let those two idiots (Nigel Fromage and Brexit Johnson) brainwash them. The whole Pro-Brexit campaign was made out based on a total lie campaign nobody fought against to.
The UK is now basically isolated, they thought they were getting their international recognition back by leaving, while they got the very opposite. The economy is falling apart and they lost several benefits they had when they were members of the EU. Recall they had several chances to obtain opt-outs other countries didn't have.
That'd be another topic to talk about that's why I am not continuing, but the thing is: How can a politician damage their own country for money? Is honesty a lost value nowdays? I do wonder what the future is gonna be like.
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u/trisul-108 1d ago
How can a politician damage their own country for money?
A class of right-wing politicians has arisen to which nothing sticks. As Trump explained, he can shoot someone in public and not lose a vote. Trump raped a woman and engaged in tax fraud but was re-elected. This is the times we live in.
Democracy is a harsh mistress, you use it or you lose it. We stopped using it and are in the process of losing it.
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u/AnnieByniaeth Don't blame me I voted 1d ago
We know Russian money was behind Brexit. See Carole Cadwaladr (see post linked below). And that's reason enough that the EU should do l be actively working to reverse Brexit - via a "truth propaganda" campaign if necessary. The poisoned propaganda emanating from Russian funded sources of still widely believed.
To believe Russia isn't still trying to influence voters within the EU would be very naïve.
https://www.reddit.com/r/europe/comments/s3ttwn/arron_banks_vs_carole_cadwalladr_shows_how_badly/
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u/ravioloalladiarrea 1d ago
Dude, you're talking about Matteo knuckle-dragger mought-breathing crayola-eating Salvini.
He says something today and its exact opposite tomorrow.
The only person on earth that shouldn't be taken seriously in any context and for anything.
A person so stupid that if stupidity had branches and leaves he would live in perpetual shade.
Anyway, to answer your question: yes, of course.
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u/ElTristoMietitor 1d ago
I hate Salvini, if it was up to me I'd revoke his italian citizenship (as he claimed in the past he is not italian, so let him be stateless) and get him sent to a prison camp in North Korea. He may be the most stupid and corrupt politician Italy has ever had during the so-called "Second Republic".
The thing is, as I stated before to another redditor, I talked about him as an example, we can take into account "great" people like Marine Le Pen, Geert Wilders, Alice Weidel, Viktor Orban and so on.
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u/jj_supermarket 1d ago
Lega Nord was not accused, they were actually found guilty. There was no prosecution because the russian counterparts were untraceable but the documents say clearly that they were guilty.
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u/ElTristoMietitor 1d ago
As far as I know the deal didn't go through.
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u/Luck88 20h ago
One deal is investigated, who knows how many went under the authorities' nose. They used ENI as a proxy to trade gas at a favorable price to move money to Lega Nord. In a sane Country Lega Nord would've been disbanded as a potential threat as a foreign agent and Salvini would've been imprisoned.
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u/dialektisk 1d ago
Yes. And also pragerU.
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u/ElTristoMietitor 1d ago
Never heard of it, I took a look and they are based in the USA. What business do they share with the EU?
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u/it777777 1d ago
The EU has to do something against this to defend itself.
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u/ElTristoMietitor 1d ago
I had a conversation with an user on it. The EU should start speaking to EU citizens D I R E C T L Y.
As it is right now, it is very hard for an average citizen to get in touch with the EU institutions.
The EU basically talks to EU citizens by their national politicians, but the outcome of this method gets really biased because the way the EU is shown depends on whether they like it or not.
For example, let's take into account both Hungary and Belgium. Now let's pretend the EU passes a law to make it illegal to smoke tobacco, ok?
Hungary: Viktor Orban and Fidesz are now blaming the EU to be a dictatorship entity because they don't let people choose whether to smoke.
Belgium: De Croo claps the EU for protecting EU citizens from harming themselves by smoking.
This is just a stupid example I've made just to explain why we do need the EU to talk D I R E C T L Y to its citizens, otherewise bad stuff is going to happen, soon.
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u/LelouchviBrittaniax Australia 1d ago
Double standards of Putin's regime: Finance all enemies of the EU using special forces and shady corrupt deals. At the same time ban all NGOs in Russia as foreign agents.
May be EU needs its own foreign agents bill to ban every party and politician who takes money from dictatorial countries. There will be no more AfD or Le Pen then.
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u/DysphoriaGML 1d ago
Is it still in doubt? 5 star movement too
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u/Luck88 20h ago
I hate it that we have so many parties affiliated with Russia over here. Basically, every party on the right is pro-Putin (yes, even FdI, just wait and see how they change their stance after Trump becomes president, they claimed to appreciate Putin pre-war), M5S is pro Putin, many in AVS are Pro Putin, if you go more to the left they're even more Pro Putin, basically only PD, IV and Azione are respectable in that regard, yet IV is tied to the Saudis...
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u/Jacques_Frost 1d ago
Use google. There are many reputable sources reporting and documenting kremlin meddling in Western politics.
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u/Lunasaurx 1d ago
Not just russia but also china, they are both buddies with certain political figures from our far right party. It is pretty public and common knowledge. Sadly, the people voting for them don't see any harm in it.
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u/ElTristoMietitor 1d ago
People voting for those parties are the scum of our society. Sad to say, but that's the truth.
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u/Tiberinvs 14h ago
If you think Salvini and Lega are bad have a look into Afd in Germany lol. They are basically a legalized Russian fifth column, pretty surprised it still wasn't banned or disbanded
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u/lawrotzr 1d ago
Is the Pope Catholic?