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Why US overtures to Russia are shaking up central Europe’s politics

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Why US overtures to Russia are shaking up central Europe’s politics

Archive: https://archive.is/2025.04.03-040358/https://www.ft.com/content/cba18cc8-448b-48cf-a8d6-88600375d0dc

Last November, Poland’s rightwing opposition lawmakers celebrated Donald Trump’s election win as if it was their own. They interrupted a parliamentary session to give Trump a standing ovation and chant his name. Some Polish MPs even sported red “Make America Great Again” caps.  

Like many other nationalist parties in central and eastern Europe, Poland’s Law and Justice party (PiS) shares a socially conservative and anti-immigration view of the world with Trump’s Maga movement. 

But five months on, Trump’s rapid rapprochement with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, and apparent disdain for many of America’s Nato allies, are causing consternation across a country where suspicion of Russia runs deep. The issue looms large over Poland’s presidential election, set to take place on May 18. 

“People knew Trump 2.0 could be more difficult than his first term, but I think that Trump’s rhetoric and what’s been happening so far have basically been pointing towards most nightmares coming true,” says Piotr Buras, head of the Warsaw office of the European Council on Foreign Relations. “Yes, there are politicians here who are playing things down . . . but I think the shock is still very, very deep,” he adds.

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