Russian TV presenter Olga Skabeeva assessed the victory of the Dutch far-right leader Geert Wilders in the parliamentary elections in the Netherlandsdeclaring that the victory in favor of Russia in the war against Ukraine, reports The Moscow Times.

Wilders, who ran on a platform against Islam, immigration and the European Union, has praised Russian President Vladimir Putin in the past and supports ending Dutch military aid to Ukraine.

“Just to understand why this is important for Russia, for example, yesterday during the 17th Rammstein format meeting, the current Prime Minister of the Netherlands [Mark] Rutte promised Zelensky a fighter jet,” presenter Olga Skabeeva said on Russian state television on Thursday.

“But Wilders comes to power, who in his election program declared that he would no longer help Ukraine in the war. Wilders has already said that he is in favor of immediate negotiations and the departure of all Ukrainian refugees from the Netherlands,” she continued.

The Netherlands has been a staunch ally of Ukraine since Moscow invaded in February 2022 and, along with Denmark, led the effort to supply Kyiv with F-16 fighter jets.

Olga Skabeyeva then noted that “the most rational and healthy thinking” comes from European far-right politicians, who, according to her, “were used to being called fascists until recently.”

“Yesterday [prim-ministrul Ungariei Viktor] Orbán said that the European bureaucracy is leading the European Union into chaos,” she said. “He meant European democracy and Brussels. By the way, Orban was the first to congratulate Wilders on his new position.”

“Indeed, he has yet to form a coalition, but he has already declared that he will not make an agreement with the left. Probably the next prime minister of the Netherlands is called the worst thing that can happen to Europe.”

The Kremlin’s Sputnik said that sanctions against Russia and the influx of Ukrainian refugees have led to a political shift in Europe to the right.

An October investigation by Dutch publication Follow the Money said PVV members attended propaganda events and visited Russia organized or paid for by ultra-nationalist State Duma deputy Leonid Slutsky.

Wilders himself visited Moscow in 2018 with a controversial working visit. In an interview with the Kremlin-backed RT channel, he said that Putin is “a leader, no matter what you think of him,” adding that he “applauds” him for standing up for the Russian people.

Relations between the Netherlands and Russia have soured since Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine shot down Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in July 2014, killing 198 Dutch civilians on board and 298 people aboard.

FTM reported that Wilders tried to hide his ties to Russia and did not publicly comment on his trip to Moscow, although he posted photos on Twitter.

Who is Geert Wilders, this “Dutch Donald Trump”

Born in 1963 in Venlo, near the German border, Wilders grew up in a Catholic family with his brother and two sisters.

His mother was half Indonesian, something he rarely mentions.

As his older brother told the German magazine Der Spiegel, he became interested in politics in the 1980s.

“Then he was neither clearly left-wing nor right-wing, nor xenophobic. But he was fascinated by the political game, the struggle for power and influence,” said Paul Wilders.

His hatred of Islam seems to have developed slowly. He spent some time in Israel, in a kibbutz, observing with his own eyes the tension in relations with the Palestinians.

He was also shocked by the murders of far-right leader Pim Fortuyn in 2002 and radical anti-Islam filmmaker Theo van Gogh in 2004.

Wilders entered politics in 1998 in the liberal VVD party, which he left in 2006 to found his PVV.

Not shy about calling Moroccans “trash” or holding caricature contests of the Prophet Muhammad, Wilders, 60, has built his career on his crusade against what he calls the “Islamic invasion” of the West.

On the campaign trail, he said he was willing to put aside his views on Islam to govern because there were “more important issues than dealing with the flow of asylum seekers and immigrants.”

Although immigration remained a key issue in the campaign, the Dutch were more concerned about “whether they have money left in their wallets”, he said, vowing to focus more on “safety and health” than his anti-Islam speech.

However, the manifesto of his PVV (Party for Freedom) retained the xenophobic tone that became his trademark.

The chances of Geert Wilders to form a coalition are slim

Forecasts are the opposite, with the PVV winning 37 seats out of 150, well ahead of the Greens-Labor party alliance (GL-PvdA, 25 seats) and the VVd (24).

However, Wilders’ party does not have enough mandates for a one-man rule, so it will have to convince at least two more centrist entities, the most likely candidates being the Interior Ministry and the newly created New Social Contract entity.

Populist politician Geert Wilders’ hopes of forming a right-wing government in the Netherlands hit a snag on Friday as the party whose support he needs most ruled out joining a new cabinet directly.

The largest party in the former Dutch government has ruled out the possibility of participating in the next Dutch government after the dramatic election victory of anti-Islamic populist Geert Wilders.

The leader of the center-right VVD, Dilan Yesilgoz, said her party needed a different role after losing 10 seats.

“The voters told us to skip this tour,” said Dylan Jesilgoz, the new leader of incumbent Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s conservative VVD party, which came third in Wednesday’s election.

“However, we would make a center-right cabinet possible. We will support constructive proposals, so this will be a form of external support,” Yesilgoz said.

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