So what makes Putin appealing to Europe’s far right?  Many of these movements see Putin as a protector of continental European values. They welcome the Russian leader’s conservative positions on issues like homosexuality, especially as support for gay rights grows in the West. They also share common opponents. Putin is strongly opposed to the European Union — he sees the eastward expansion of the bloc as an encroachment on Russia’s traditional sphere of influence. The majority of Europe’s far right, meanwhile, sees the EU as equally hegemonic. They say it has robbed European member states of their sovereignty, and many are advocating breaking away from it.

But it is Putin’s style of leadership which best explains the far right’s attraction to him. Beginning with the years between the two World Wars, the far right has consistently looked for strong leaders to inspire a dedicated mass of followers. Benito Mussolini was the first, though not all subsequent leaders idolized by the extreme right were fascists. Charles de Gaulle and Margaret Thatcher, who were renowned for their firm grip on their respective parties and parliaments, were held in high esteem by the far right for their unwavering nationalist and anti-leftist positions. Today, Putin fills that role.

Putin offers just what far right today wants. In Western Europe, the economic downturn and the EU’s austerity policies have contributed to a rise of public anger about everything from liberalism to immigration.