In Russia, the Putin regime is not only embracing a far-right politics with attacks on women’s and LGBT rights supported by an increasingly powerful Russian orthodox church, suppression of dissent, and a macho cult of personality, but as its brutal actions in Ukraine reflect, is increasingly pursuing an imperialist agenda based on the notion of Greater Russia. Anti-war protests that broke out in various cities were brutally suppressed by the Putin regime.

In Ukraine the war continues with Russian invading forces being pushed back from some occupied regions, but no end to the war currently in sight. With the threat of nuclear war ever-present, there has so far been no direct intervention or imposition of a no-fly zone by NATO forces. The US is by far the biggest supplier of arms to Ukraine, followed by the UK and other Western countries. This is also the first time that the European Union as an entity has armed a non-member country. The Ukrainian government has meanwhile introduced a raft of anti-worker laws, banning of trade unions, and deregulations, which are seen as further creating conditions for foreign corporate investment. The fight in defence of self-determination naturally has the support of the people, including the left in Ukraine, and Putin’s claim to be ‘de-Nazifying’ Ukraine is clearly propaganda. At the same time it should be noted that Ukraine’s armed forces include significant fascist elements such as the Azov Battalion among others, and it seems that both sides are attracting and training foreign mercenaries affiliated with the European far-right, thus ominously strengthening the latter for the future.