As I write, Russia has invaded Ukraine, thousands of people have reportedly died, and hundreds of thousands of refugees have fled the country.
It’s a more comprehensive version of the invasion carried out in 2014, when president Vladimir Putin invoked a religious and Russian nationalist understanding of the history of the region to justify his actions. For the Kremlin, this stance goes hand-in-hand with the promotion of a ‘traditional values’ agenda that pits ‘Holy Russia’ against ‘the decadent West’ and ‘gayropa’.
All of this has earned Putin considerable admiration from the European far-Right and the American Christian Right in recent years. Now they’re making comments that range from enabling to outright support for Russia’s aggression, reminding their audiences that, in the words of Steve Bannon, former Trump White House chief strategist: “The Russian people still know which bathroom to use.”
