We continue to discover prominent Russian agents who promote Kremlin propaganda and Russian interests. Today, we will discuss John Laughland, a British eurosceptic, pro-Russian and anti-American author. He’s best known for his work for the Russia-funded Institute of Democracy and Cooperation and for Thierry Baudet’s political party, Forum voor Democratie.
He worked at the French Institute of Democracy and Cooperation from 2008 until 2018. It is an association founded by a Russian attorney, Anatoly Kucherena. Kucherena is probably best-known for acting as a lawyer for both Viktor Yanukovych and Edward Snowden.
The think tank aims to provide a ”symmetrical response” to the human rights violation allegations that organizations like Freedom House introduce, meaning that they’ll explain these scenarios from the Russian perspective. Russian Presidential grants fund the institute.
Mr. Laughland has written articles and publications on The American Conservative (known for “trustworthy” authors such as Douglas Macgregor and Scott Ritter) and Antiwar.com (with pro-Russian Scott Horton, among others).
Already back in 1997, John published a critique on the EU, suggesting that it shares ideological affinity with fascism, Nazism, and communism. He’s also a stout critic of the International War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague, stating that it was established illegitimately.
Laughland’s criticized the trial of Slobodan Milošević and condemned the West’s support of his opposition.
Following the Orange Revolution in 2004, Laughland wrote a column in The Guardian, claiming that Viktor Yuschenko’s coalition was linked to “neo-Nazis”, and based on him, Yuschenko was mostly supported by “druggy skinheads from Lviv”. In reality, most of this “neo-Nazi” movement was a false flag operation funded by pro-Russian actors such as Putin’s oligarch buddy Viktor Medvedchuk
Laughland currently works as the director of the international department of conspiracy theorist Thierry Baudet’s political party, Forum voor Democratie. Since then, Baudet has organized several events with Laughland as a guest, for example the “China Symposium” in Aug, 2022.
Baudet also visited John’s YouTube show “The Laughland Report” and they discussed the matter of the “COVID conspiracy”. Baudet seems to think highly of Laughland’s academic work, as he referred Laughland’s work several times on his doctoral thesis. He even invited John to address the Dutch Parliament about judicial independence. In addition to his work for Baudet, Laughland was a visiting Research Fellow at the Orbán-connected Mathias Corvinus Collegium in Budapest between Sep 2022 and Feb 2023.
John’s also been listed as an “expert” for the Russian propaganda channel Valdai Discussion Club, and he’s participated in the academic board of the Ron Paul Institute.
In an interview by Sky News Arabia, in Sep, 2022, Laughland stated that Ukraine allegedly broke the Minsk agreement, that there “absolute is a Nazi element in Ukraine”, that the war is between Russia and NATO & the US, that the sanctions are hurting the West more than they are hurting Russia, and that they are actually helping Russia. When asked about Kosovo, Bosnia and Ukraine, he claimed that they aren’t sovereign states and they wouldn’t exist without Western military presence. You can see his overview on the war in the video below:
In his upcoming book, “Endgame Ukraine”, he argues that the “current war in Ukraine is the ‘endgame’ of American hegemonic aspirations”, and that it’ll eventually end being their “imperial overstretch” and “the brink of its downfall – as it was for Napoleon and Hitler.”
Laughland could be described as an academic with strong pro-Russian and anti-American views. He represents the intellectual section of the pro-Russian actors, working through think tanks, universities and associations, providing him the extra layer of credibility.
But in the end, he’s just another paid Kremlin actor, parroting the same narratives as all the other pro-Russian propagandists. What separates him from most other pro-Russian agents is that he’s been playing this game at least since the late 90’s.
by Pekka Kallioniemi on Twitter
