The Russia test. Convergence and divergence among RN, FdI and AfD since 2014

This chapter treats European policy towards Russia as a litmus test of far-right parties’ coalition potential, comparing Fratelli d’Italia, Rassemblement National and Alternative für Deutschland between 2014 and 2025. It reconstructs their reactions to the annexation of Crimea and to the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, combining discourse analysis of statements by Meloni, Le Pen and Weidel with a quantitative examination of roll-call votes. From a subset of 490 votes relating to 34 foreign-policy documents, linear regressions estimate whether the Russia/Ukraine topic increases or reduces each delegation’s distance from the EPP; thirteen salient resolutions are then examined individually. Fratelli d’Italia converges towards the mainstream while RN and AfD deepen their isolation, establishing Russia policy as an internal far-right cleavage.