Independent of the framing of Russia and Ukraine across the German far right, my analysis reveals important similarities between either imaginary.
First, both imaginaries are deeply racist and/or white supremacist. Unlike in the so-called European migration crisis of 2015/16, all actors welcomed war refugees from Ukraine in Germany and Europe, framing them as ‘real refugees’. Yet, they spread conspiracy narratives that the war essentially served non-whites as an opportunity to enter Germany. According to this story, the entire process was orchestrated by political elites and ultimately aimed at the ‘Great Replacement’ of European societies.
Second, both imaginaries include the projection of a future Europe as a fortress independent from both Russia and the US. The pro-Russian editor of Compact magazine, Jürgen Elsässer, repeatedly expressed his hope for the war to incite a new geopolitical era of a bloc-free world and new security landscape in Europe. Similarly, as early as 25 February 2022, the pro-Ukrainian III. Weg proclaimed that ‘Our answer to the question of Washington or Moscow, West or East, can only be: Europe!’, and painted the positive future vision of ‘the freedom of the European peoples from all foreign empires, the defence of their own identity and the vision of a united Europe’.
Thus, Russia’s war in Ukraine has (so far) not split the right-wing camp, as Martin Sellner dreaded in early 2022. Instead, the tensions between different geopolitical positions appear to have been superseded by the scene’s shared Eurocentric racism.
https://www.sv.uio.no/c-rex/english/news-and-events/right-now/2024/%E2%80%98fratricidal-war%E2%80%99-or-%E2%80%98asian-invasion%E2%80%99.html