Dutch far-right leader Baudet had ties to Russia,
report says
Thierry Baudet says messages were merely ‘playful
exaggeration.’
By ELINE
SCHAART 4/17/20, 10:23 AM CET Updated 4/17/20, 1:56 PM CET
The Dutch
far-right politician who led a campaign against a deal to strengthen ties
between the EU and Ukraine sent WhatsApp messages that appear to show he was
paid by a Russian with ties to Vladimir Putin, according to a TV investigation.
Dutch
investigative TV program Zembla said Thierry Baudet, leader of the anti-EU,
anti-immigrant Forum for Democracy (FvD) party, sent messages to a colleague
about Vladimir Kornilov — who, according to a New York Times article from 2017,
has ties to the Kremlin — ahead of a 2016 referendum on a deal with Ukraine. In
his messages, Baudet described Kornilov as "a Russian who works for Putin."
Kornilov denies having ties to the Kremlin.
During the
referendum campaign, Baudet sent messages to Henk Otten — former treasurer of
the FvD, who was expelled from the party last year — saying that he wanted to
stop working as a commentator on the TV network Powned. "Maybe Kornilov
wants to pay some extra," said one of the messages. Another thanked Otten
for his support, saying "Kornilov cannot compete with that with all his
money." Both messages were accompanied with winking and smiling emojis.
In a
statement published before the TV program aired on Thursday evening, Baudet
denied the allegations and said the statements about Kornilov were part of a
"running gag" and were "playful exaggeration."
"Undoubtedly,
from a period of several years and several very intensive campaigns, a large
number of statements can be found, made in internal WhatsApp groups or in other
contexts, which are difficult to place, seem serious or, on the contrary, are
difficult to take seriously. Sometimes we blew off steam in a message.
Sometimes we got carried away," he said.
Inspired by
the U.K.'s vote to leave the EU, FvD — which was established in 2016 — launched
a petition against the so-called association agreement with Kyiv. It was the
first referendum to take place under a Dutch law that obliges the government to
call a public vote on any petition that gets the support of 300,000 people.
The
organizers said their main objective was to thwart "undemocratic
decision-making" in Brussels. Dutch voters opposed the deal by a margin of
almost two to one.
Although
the referendum was nonbinding, it was an embarrassment for Prime Minister Mark
Rutte, who had to go back to Brussels for reassurances that the agreement would
not lead to automatic EU membership for Ukraine and would not commit member
countries to financially support the country.
Baudet's
upstart party stunned the Dutch political establishment again in 2019 by winning
the most votes in provincial elections, putting it ahead of Rutte's liberal
VVD. During the European Parliament election in May, Baudet's party came fourth
in the Netherlands, winning three seats.
The leaked
messages revealed by Zembla also show Baudet wanted to push for a Dutch exit
from NATO, despite the party suggesting in its election program that the Dutch
contribution to the alliance should be increased.
Baudet has
strongly opposed EU sanctions on Russia after the occupation of the Crimea in
2014. In its 2017 election program, FvD proposed a "normalization of
relations with Russia" and Baudet has repeatedly disputed the Dutch
government's criticism of Russia over the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight
MH17 in 2014.
Authors:
Eline
Schaart
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