Pro-Putin European leaders reaffirm their power

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Vucic’s government has refused European pressure to impose sanctions against Russia. 

Many people in Serbia feel resentful about NATO bullying and have sympathy for Russia, which is seen as a victim of the hegemonic Western agendas. Vucic’s government voted in favor of the U.N. resolution in early March condemning the Russian invasion. However, it has mostly maintained a neutral position, afraid of burning bridges to a European Union that it might one day hope to join.

Vucic’s cultural base, however, finds support from the Kremlin and has its revanchist project in the Balkans. Bosko Jaksic, a pro-western newspaper columnist, stated that Putin’s “Russian world” is an exact copy of what our nationists call Greater Serbia. reported this to the New York Times.

Orban is now the most controversial and problematic elected leader of the European Union. As Russia increased its presence on Ukraine’s borders in February, Putin hosted Orban and expressed hope for “many more years of cooperation” moving forward. Orban initially accepted a tranche of E.U.-mandated sanctions after the war started, but has since resisted further measures such as a ban on Russian energy imports. Hungary won’t allow its territory to be used for the transit of lethal arms to Ukraine. Its quasi-neutrality in relation to the war next door has caused it to split with its erstwhile illiberal ally Poland. This has rushed to aid Ukraine and is seeking far greater punitive actions on Russia.

Although long-standing ties to Putin have caused problems for far-right European politicians such as Matteo Salvini in Italy and Marine Le Pen in France, Orban and his allies were not hurt by the reluctance of Kyiv to help. While the opposition voted for Putin over the West, the more prominent pro-government messages painted a very different picture. Orban maintained peace in Hungary and avoided a devastating conflagration.