Vladimir Putin is trying to dismantle the EU by helping far-right parties, his former speechwriter has claimed.
Elections in the EU saw many voters swing for far-right parties, such as in France, where Marine Le Pen’s National Rally Party won with 32 per cent of the vote, and in Germany, where the hard-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) took second place, making gains in particular among the young.
Exit polls are projecting that pro-European centre-right, centre-left and Green parties will retain a reduced majority of 460 seats, signifying that the ruling parties whose views are currently more in line with Brussels, will be challenged.
Abbas Gallyamov, Putin's aide from 2008-2012, has said that Putin is helping parties on the far-right in an attempt to tear the EU apart at the seams.
Vladimir Putin is trying to dismantle the EU by helping far-right partiesReuters/Getty“Definitely Putin is trying to help the far-right in Europe. There is a lot of proof of this. There is no doubt he would see far-right victories as a good result for himself,” he told The Daily Express.
“But I think the success of the far-right is the reaction to the domestic European agenda. It is a reaction of regular citizens to too much progressivism. They have had enough.
“Putin, if he manages to, will want to split the EU. But even if he doesn't the division now is already a kind of achievement for him.”
The far-right have gained particular traction with today’s youth in the recent EU elections.
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Marine Le Pen's party surged compared to 2019REUTERSYoung voters, traditionally perceived to be more left-wing, have appeared to shift their support towards more right-wing populist parties which have tapped into their concerns.
In particular, many young men in Europe voted to oppose an increasingly “woke” mainstream, analysts say.
Referring to the AfD, Christoph, 17, a trade school student in Berlin, said: “Germany is not going in a good direction and they were the only party with a really clear message, on migration.”
Meanwhile, in France, the RN took a 25 per cent share of the vote among 18 to 24-year-olds.
Alternative for Germany (AfD) party co-leader Alice WeidelReutersThe RN have previously been accused of having links to Russia as they once received funding from a Moscow bank.
Le Pen said that she had no choice but to accept the money, as many French banks at the time were reluctant to fund her party.
Meanwhile, the AfD’s lead candidate for the EU elections, Maximilian Krah, has been accused of accepting payments from Russia and China.
Krah, who was also involved in a scandal after he said not all Nazis were criminals, has now been axed from the pary’s future in the European Parliament.
“I was not voted in,” Krah told a group of reporters on Monday.
