Thierry Baudet maintains close ties with European pro-Putin network – Joop

Thierry Baudet and Forum for Democracy are at the heart of a European right-wing radical network that is well disposed to the Kremlin. Forum maintains close ties with other right-wing radical parties that propagate Vladimir Putin’s poisonous narrative. NRC writes this in an impressive analysis of the connections between the parties.

For example, Baudet was in Budapest in January at the invitation of the Mi Hazánk party. There the Forum leader signed the Hungarian translation of his crazy book ‘The Corona Deception’. On that occasion he was visited by Petr Bystron, number two on the list of the right-wing radical AfD from Germany. The two right-wing extremists also spoke at a party meeting of Mi Hazánk in the evening.

Bystron is under fire in his own country because an audio recording shows him accepting 20,000 euros from Ukrainian politician Artyom Marchevsky, a Kremlin stooge. His boss, the oligarch Viktor Medvedchuk, is good friends with Vladimir Putin.

Mi Hazánk is an extremely dubious party, writes NRC: “Mi Hazánk has uniformed units for ‘self-defense’, is in favor of reintroducing the death penalty, wants a referendum on EU withdrawal, claims (traditionally Hungarian) territory in Ukraine and advocates apartheid between Roma and other Hungarians in education.”

The promotion of the Hungarian translation of Baudet’s book was done by right-wing publicist and publisher Árpád Szakács, who is a member of Mi Hazánk. Szakács spoke at a protest against NATO troops in Hungary in 2022. On that occasion he wore a Russian flag on his jacket and railed against the subordination of ethnic Russians.

Mi Hazánk, Forum and several other pro-Kremlin parties, such as Bulgaria’s Vazrazjdane, signed a joint anti-EU declaration in August last year. Three of Vazrazjdane’s parliamentarians traveled to Moscow in February at the invitation of United Russia, Putin’s party.

More about:

Topical, Thierry Baudet, forum for democracy, petr bystron, dept, mi hazánk, artyom marchevsky, viktor medvedchuk, Vladimir Putin, Árpád szakács, vazrazhdane