President Vladimir Putin’s ruling party has signed a co-operation deal with Italy’s far-right Lega Nord, deepening Russia’s ties with Europe’s populist movements.
The deal marks the Kremlin’s latest attempt to develop formal links with populist groups ahead of elections this year in which the right is set to make gains.
United Russia, the main pro-Kremlin party, signed a similar agreement late last year with the far-right Freedom party of Austria, whose leader Heinz-Christian Strache was narrowly defeated in December’s presidential election. The leader of Germany’s anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, Frauke Petry, also held talks with United Russia’s Viacheslav Volodin, speaker of the Duma, the lower house of parliament, during a visit to Russia last month.
Moscow officials have hailed the rise of anti-establishment populist parties in Europe and Donald Trump’s victory in the US as signs that western governments will fail in their attempts to isolate Mr Putin’s regime following the 2014 annexation of Crimea.
Common cause in a conservative backlash against liberal values and criticism of the EU’s handling of the migrant crisis have allowed Moscow to build good relationships with European far-right parties including France’s National Front, Hungary’s Jobbik and Italy’s Lega Nord, or Northern League.
Many of those parties approved of Russia’s annexation of Crimea and sent monitors who praised glaringly flawed elections in both Crimea and rebel-held eastern Ukraine.
Although it is unclear what the Lega Nord agreement will entail, Sergei Zheleznyak, deputy Duma speaker, touted Russia’s willingness to lead a global anti-terror coalition alongside western nations as a priority for the Kremlin.
“Russia is [Europe’s] neighbour,” Mr Zheleznyak said in a statement. “So it’s particularly strange that Europe isn’t making use of the unique experience fighting terrorism that we’ve built up in our country.
Matteo Salvini, Lega Nord chairman, said his anti-immigration and anti-euro party would work “so that Italy has real parliamentary elections, just as open as in your country [Russia]”.
The two parties will also develop ties in the Council of Europe, the Organization for Security and Co-Operation in Europe, and promote business links.
Members of Lega Nord made up the bulk of an Italian delegation that visited Crimea in October, prompting protests from Ukraine. Claudio D’Amico, a senior Lega Nord member, was one of several European far-right politicians who monitored the rubber-stamp referendum that followed Russia’s annexation of the peninsula.
The Netherlands, France and Germany will all hold general elections this year, with far-right parties expected to perform strongly.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited . All rights reserved. Please don't copy articles from FT.com and redistribute by email or post to the web.