Anton Shekhovtsov

My research explores relations between various Russian actors and the Western far right. It provides a historical perspective, discussing the pro-Soviet or pro-Russian views of particular Western farright activists, but its major focus is contemporary Russia. Initial contacts between Russian political actors and Western far-right activists were established in the early 1990s, but these contacts were low-profile. As Moscow has become more anti- Western, these contacts have become more intense and now operate at a higher level.

My research explores relations between various Russian actors and the Western far right. It provides a historical perspective, discussing the pro-Soviet or pro-Russian views of particular Western far-right activists, but its major focus is contemporary Russia. Initial contacts between Russian political actors and Western far-right activists were established in the early 1990s, but these contacts were low-profile. As Moscow has become more anti-Western, these contacts have become more intense and now operate at a higher level.

This research aims at exploring the agenda, nature and forms of cooperation between Putin’s Russia on the one hand and left and far left intellectuals, organisations and parties in Europe and North America – on the other. This research will contribute to a number of challenging scholarly debates such as Russia’s role in the world, geopolitics of Eurasia, the growing popular support for the extreme right parties in Europe.

I shall explore the nature of the ideology of the interwar Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) and situate it within a broader context of European interwar extreme-right movements and organizations. In particular, I intend to analyze the political, social, and cultural views of the Organization’s ideologists, trying to establish common ideological denominators between them.