Separatists of the World, Unite!

During the Cold War, the Soviet Union provided arms, money, and intelligence to a global network of political groups that helped promote its agenda and undermine the West. Since the start of the war in Ukraine, the Kremlin has been doing something similar. It’s been on a charm offensive aimed at the radical right and left in dozens of countries.

Proxy groups for the Kremlin host these fringe political parties at lavish conferences in Russia and elsewhere to build a sense of unity, stoke anti-American sentiment, and rally support for Russia’s policies in Ukraine. At a September conference for mostly left-wing separatists in Moscow, obscure Puerto Rican and Hawaiian independence activists mingled with Northern Irish republicans, Catalan radicals, and rebels from eastern Ukraine. Held in a government-owned luxury hotel, the conference was organized by the Russian Antiglobalist Movement, which is supported in part by the government.