Extremists Turn to a Leader to Protect Western Values: Vladimir Putin

[John Young]

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/03/world/americas/alt-right-vladimir-putin.html

For Mr. Heimbach is far from alone in his esteem for Mr. Putin. 
Throughout the collection of white ethnocentrists, nationalists, 
populists and neo-Nazis that has taken root on both sides of the 
Atlantic, Mr. Putin is widely revered as a kind of white knight: a 
symbol of strength, racial purity and traditional Christian values in 
a world under threat from Islam, immigrants and rootless cosmopolitan elites.

"I've always seen Russia as the guardian at the gate, as the 
easternmost outpost of our people," said 
<http://www.sam-dickson.com/>Sam Dickson, a white supremacist and 
former Ku Klux Klan lawyer who frequently speaks at gatherings of the 
so-called alt-right, a far-right fringe movement that embraces white 
nationalism and a range of racist and anti-immigrant positions. "They 
are our barrier to the Oriental invasion of our homeland and the 
great protector of Christendom. I admire the Russian people. They are 
the strongest white people on earth."

His 
<http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/08/us/politics/us-formally-accuses-russia-of-stealing-dnc-emails.html>voice 
amplified by Russian-funded think tanks, the Orthodox Church and 
state-controlled news media, like RT and Sputnik, that are aimed at 
foreign audiences, Mr. Putin has in recent years reached out to 
conservative and nationalist groups abroad with the message that he 
stands with them against gay rights activists and other forces of moral decay.

He first embraced this theme when, campaigning for his third term as 
president in early 2012, he presented Russia not only as a military 
power deserving of international respect, but also as a 
"civilizational model" that could rally all those in Russia and 
beyond who were fed up with the erosion of traditional values.

The Kremlin has also provided financial and logistical support to 
far-right forces in the West, said Peter Kreko, an analyst at 
<http://www.politicalcapital.hu/>Political Capital, a research group 
in Budapest. Though Jobbik, a neo-Nazi party in Hungary and other 
groups have been accused of receiving money from Moscow, the only 
proven case so far involves the National Front in France, which got 
loans worth more than $11 million from Russian banks.

Russia also shares with far-right groups across the world a deeply 
held belief that, regardless of their party, traditional elites 
should be deposed because of their support for globalism and 
transnational institutions like NATO and the European Union.