Russia Haza: Kremlin Fans With Western Lives And Rights

Lede

Some people praise the Kremlin from Western comfort, then call it patriotism because hypocrisy sounds better with a flag.

Words used

• “Ruszkik haza!” means “Russians, go home” in Hungarian.
• “Rusia afara!” means “Russia out” in Romanian.
• “Kremlin worship” here means admiration for Putin’s regime, not love for Russian people or Russian culture.

Hermit Off Script

Russia haza – Russia out. I can’t help roasting the political sickness that still admires Putin and treats Russia’s current regime like some holy empire of order, strength and truth. I love Russian culture. I love the Russian people who treasure freedom, dignity, art and democracy. I love the Russia that gave the world Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Chekhov, Pushkin, Pasternak, Nabokov, Kandinsky, Malevich, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Shostakovich, Vysotsky, Pugacheva and many others. That is not the Russia of a man who drags his own country and its neighbours through war because his ego cannot survive peace. If Putin loved Russia, he would not burn through its young men for a cause that doesn’t represent ordinary Russian citizens. According to Britannica’s summary of CSIS estimates, Russian military casualties – killed, wounded and missing – were expected to reach one million during summer 2025. Even if every number in war is contested, the moral direction is not. A leader who empties families into graves is not defending a country. He is feeding his own shadow and calling it history. What annoys me most is that some people still cherish this. They would welcome the boot, then ask the boot to polish itself before entering the living room. Hungary gave us the old chant “Ruszkik haza!” and, according to recent reporting, the post-Orban moment has opened a path away from years of Kremlin-friendly politics, pressure on critics and blocked European unity on Ukraine. That is what a country can do when people remember their own suffering and stop selling their past for a cheap strongman poster. Then Romania gets Diana Sosoaca, who went to St Petersburg and, according to Digi24, spoke to Putin as if she had the right to package Romanian feeling and hand it over at the Kremlin gift desk. She said Romanians do not hate him and do not want to give money and weapons to Ukraine. In my name? No. In Romania’s name? No. In the name of every Romanian who remembers dictatorship, fear, police-state obedience and the cost of freedom? Absolutely not. The worst part is the chorus around it. Some Romanians live in Britain, Germany, France, Italy or Spain, enjoy Western law, Western wages, Western health systems, Western passports, Western courts and Western freedom, then cheer for Russian-style power from the safety of a democracy they pretend to despise. If Russia, China, North Korea or Iran look so pure from the comment section, the door is not painted on the wall. Go. Take citizenship. Russia has been generous with symbolic celebrity transfers before. Steven Seagal and Gerard Depardieu already showed that admiration can become paperwork. Romania has had more than 37 years since 1989 to learn that freedom is not optional decoration. It is the wall between the citizen and the ruler’s appetite. Parties and figures who turn corruption, grievance, nationalism and Kremlin fog into a business model – whether they wear PSD, AUR, SOS or any other badge – should not be treated as destiny. They should be tested, exposed, investigated where needed, and removed through elections, courts and clean laws. One day I hope Romanians chant with the same force: “Rusia afara!” Not against Russian people. Against the imported habit of kneeling.

P.S. If I were in the European Parliament now, I would push for a clear rule: any elected member who openly acts as a mouthpiece for a hostile authoritarian power should face an urgent investigation, suspension of sensitive access, and removal from committees until the facts are tested. I wouldn’t call it legal treason without a court, but politically it smells close enough to make the windows open by themselves. Democracy should not pay, protect and platform people who use its house keys to praise the forces trying to burn the house down.

The local shop of fake patriots

Romania has its own political bargain bin now: AUR sells anger as purity, SOS sells scandal as courage, PSD sells old corruption with a fresh tie, and Calin Georgescu almost sold the presidency through the algorithmic washing machine. Different uniforms, same smell. AUR plays the sovereign card while its leader George Simion has been kept out of Moldova until 2028 and, according to Ukrainian authorities, banned from Ukraine over statements that discredited Ukraine and challenged its borders. SOS turns Parliament into a stage for shouting, icons, muzzles, letters to Putin and territory fantasies, then calls the whole circus patriotism. PSD does the older trick. It doesn’t need the wild costume. It already had the machine: Liviu Dragnea, once PSD’s most powerful man, received a final 3 years and 6 months prison sentence in 2019 for inciting abuse of office, with a previous conviction linked to electoral fraud. That is not history. That is the family photo on the mantelpiece.

Then came Georgescu, the TikTok miracle with no miracle. He came from nowhere, won the first round in November 2024 with 22.94 per cent, and Romania’s Constitutional Court later annulled the vote after declassified intelligence alleged Russian interference, coordinated online promotion, and campaign irregularities. The European Commission then opened formal proceedings against TikTok over election-risk failures under the Digital Services Act. This is how the new extremism works: it doesn’t always arrive with tanks first. Sometimes it arrives as a short video, a clean slogan, a fake saviour, a queue of anonymous accounts, and a voter who thinks he discovered truth while the platform discovered his weakness.

The joke is brutal because it isn’t really a joke. The corrupt old parties made people disgusted. The extremist parties turned that disgust into theatre. The Kremlin-friendly voices then stepped in and whispered: “Your democracy failed you, try obedience.” Romania doesn’t need that bargain. It needs courts that work, parties that can be punished, leaders who don’t kneel abroad, and voters who don’t mistake a viral clip for destiny.

Update: bread, salt and exported poison

Then, as if the theatre needed one more act, Andrew and Tristan Tate arrived in Moscow on 2 June 2026 and received the soft-power welcome: music, traditional costumes, bread and salt, the full postcard performance. Republica called it “Bread, Water And Rubbish”, a blunt English translation of the Romanian headline “Paine, apa si gunoaie”. The title does most of the work: bread for the welcome, water for the performance, rubbish for the moral cargo. Russia doesn’t roll out this kind of stage for people it respects. It does it for people it can use.

The Tate brothers are not just random tourists with expensive luggage and a hunger for cameras. They are men facing serious criminal charges and investigations in Romania and Britain, including human trafficking-related allegations, which they deny. That legal line matters. They are not convicted in those cases. But politically and morally, the image is rotten enough: two Western influencers famous for misogyny, grievance and online manipulation being welcomed by a state that loves turning Western decay into Kremlin propaganda.

This is the real trash export pipeline. The West produces angry celebrity men, platforms them until they become useful to hostile propaganda, then acts surprised when Moscow opens the gate and gives them bread. It is shameful that this kind of performance still gets treated as spectacle instead of what it is: a laundering ceremony for dangerous influence. If someone facing charges wants to make a political pilgrimage to an authoritarian state while posing as a victim of Western justice, governments should at least review travel rules, platform access, residency privileges and public-risk exposure where the law allows. I don’t mean lawless exile. I mean consequences.

And yes, if they think Russia is the natural home for their view of women, power and obedience, maybe they should stop using Western freedom as a hotel lobby. Move there, live there, test the paradise without the return ticket. The Kremlin keeps saying it defends values. Funny how often those values arrive wearing a legal cloud and a podcast microphone.

What does not make sense

• Praising Putin from inside the European system is a strange form of rebellion. The salary arrives from the club while the speech flatters the arsonist outside it.
• Loving Russian culture and admiring the Kremlin are not the same thing. Pushkin is not a passport stamp for invasion.
• Some diaspora voices enjoy Western rights, then ask their old country to accept Eastern obedience. That is not patriotism. That is comfort with a megaphone.
• “Sovereignty” becomes theatre when the script is imported from Moscow.
• Romania did not escape dictatorship so new performers could sell fear back to the public with better microphones.
• A politician cannot speak for “Romanians” while ignoring the Romanians who remember why freedom mattered in 1989.
• If democracy is so unbearable, the pro-authoritarian admirer should not need a Western address, a Western bank, and a Western legal appeal.

Sense check / The numbers

1. On 2 March 2022, the UN General Assembly vote rejecting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine passed by 141 votes to 5, demanding Russia withdraw its forces. [EEAS/UN]
2. On 17 March 2023, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova over alleged war crimes involving the unlawful deportation and transfer of Ukrainian children. Britannica also summarises a CSIS estimate that Russian military casualties – killed, wounded and missing – would reach one million during summer 2025. [ICC / Britannica]
3. The European Parliament lists Diana Iovanovici Sosoaca as a Romanian MEP for SOS Romania from 16 July 2024, and Digi24 reported that on 5 June 2026 she addressed Vladimir Putin at the St Petersburg forum with pro-Russia remarks about Romanians and Ukraine. [European Parliament / Digi24]
4. On 14 March 2026, the Council of the EU extended sanctions linked to Ukraine’s territorial integrity until 15 September 2026, covering around 2,600 individuals and entities. On 23 April 2026, the Council also finalised a 90 billion euro support loan for Ukraine. [Council of EU]
5. On 3 June 2026, Reuters reported that Hungary’s Tisza government had submitted a bill to abolish the Orban-era Sovereignty Protection Office after Fidesz lost power following 16 years in office. Visegrad Insight also reported the 2026 return of the chant “Ruszkik haza!” during Hungary’s political shift. [Reuters / Visegrad Insight]

The sketch

Scene 1: The loyal feed
An elected figure stands at an EU-style desk, facing a screen with a Kremlin-like silhouette and holding a small Russian doll. Rows of identical audience silhouettes raise approval icons.
Dialogue:
MEP: “We speak for the people.”
Audience: “We agree.”
Crowd: “Patriot!”

Scene 2: The culture shelf
A shelf of Russian culture shows books labelled Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Chekhov and Pushkin beside Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich, icons and paintings. A large official stamp lands over the shelf reading “Regime approved”.
Dialogue:
Reader: “I came for culture.”
Regime: “I brought a stamp.”
Culture: “Typical.”

Scene 3: The exit gate
A split border gate shows one path marked “Rights” with law, freedom, democracy, elections and press, and another path marked “One-way empire” with obedience, propaganda, corruption, war and fear. A traveller holding a Russian doll faces the dark gate while a guard asks a question.
Dialogue:
Guard: “One-way?”
Democracy: “Keep the receipt.”

What to watch, not the show

• The way authoritarian praise travels through democratic platforms, migrant networks and outrage clips.
• The money and status that anti-EU politicians can collect while attacking the EU.
• The use of culture as camouflage for regime loyalty.
• The conversion of real public anger about corruption into pro-Kremlin theatre.
• The habit of calling every investigation “persecution” before facts are tested.
• The social media reward system that turns shouting into political capital.
• The danger of treating 1989 as history homework rather than a living warning.
• The difference between protecting national sovereignty and importing another empire’s talking points.

The Hermit take

Love Russian culture. Do not kneel to the Kremlin.
Freedom is not a hotel breakfast you enjoy while praising the prison.

Keep or toss

Keep / Toss.
Keep Russian culture, free Russians and Romania’s hunger for dignity.
Toss Kremlin worship, diaspora hypocrisy and parties that sell obedience as patriotism.

Sources

• Digi24 report on Diana Sosoaca addressing Putin at St Petersburg: https://www.digi24.ro/stiri/actualitate/politica/sosoaca-ii-spune-lui-putin-la-sankt-petersburg-ca-romanii-nu-l-urasc-nu-vrem-sa-ajutam-ucraina-dar-romania-e-condusa-de-bruxelles-3802631
• European Parliament profile for Diana Iovanovici Sosoaca: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/257120/DIANA_IOVANOVICI%20SOSOACA/history/10
• Reuters on Hungary moving to abolish the Orban-era Sovereignty Protection Office: https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/hungarys-government-moves-abolish-orban-era-sovereignty-protection-office-2026-06-03/
• Visegrad Insight on “Ruszkik haza!” and the 2026 Hungarian political shift: https://visegradinsight.eu/russians-go-home-say-hungarian-voters/
• EEAS on the UN General Assembly vote demanding Russian withdrawal from Ukraine: https://www.eeas.europa.eu/eeas/un-general-assembly-demands-russian-federation-withdraw-all-military-forces-territory-ukraine_und_en
• International Criminal Court arrest warrants in the Ukraine situation: https://www.icc-cpi.int/news/situation-ukraine-icc-judges-issue-arrest-warrants-against-vladimir-vladimirovich-putin-and
• Britannica on Russia-Ukraine war military casualty estimates: https://www.britannica.com/question/What-are-the-military-casualty-estimates-for-the-Russia-Ukraine-War
• Council of the EU on sanctions over Ukraine territorial integrity, March 2026: https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2026/03/14/russia-s-war-of-aggression-against-ukraine-eu-extends-individual-listings-over-ukraine-s-territorial-integrity-for-a-further-six-months/
• Council of the EU on the 90 billion euro support loan to Ukraine: https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2026/04/23/council-finalises-90-billion-support-loan-to-ukraine/
• Britannica on Russian literature: https://www.britannica.com/art/Russian-literature
• Britannica on Romania’s national communism and the 1989 revolution: https://www.britannica.com/place/Romania/National-communism
• The Moscow Times on Steven Seagal receiving Russian citizenship: https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2016/11/03/putin-awards-steven-seagal-with-russian-citizenship-a55990
• Al Jazeera on Gerard Depardieu receiving Russian citizenship: https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2013/1/3/putin-grants-depardieu-russian-citizenship
• European Parliament Rule 10 on standards of conduct for MEPs: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/lastrules/RULE-010_EN.html
• European Parliament Code of Conduct for Members on integrity and public interest: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/lastrules/ANN-01_EN.html
• European Parliament FAQ on parliamentary immunity: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/faq/13/immunita-parlamentare
• European Parliament Rule 6 on waiver of immunity: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/lastrules/RULE-006_EN.html
• European Parliament profile for Diana Iovanovici Sosoaca: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/257120/DIANA_IOVANOVICI%20SOSOACA/history/10
• Digi24 video report on Diana Sosoaca addressing Vladimir Putin in St Petersburg: https://www.digi24.ro/video/sosoaca-ii-spune-lui-putin-la-sankt-petersburg-ca-romanii-nu-l-urasc-nu-vrem-sa-ajutam-ucraina-dar-romania-e-condusa-de-bruxelles-3802675
• Digi24 article on Diana Sosoaca’s St Petersburg remarks to Vladimir Putin: https://www.digi24.ro/stiri/actualitate/politica/sosoaca-ii-spune-lui-putin-la-sankt-petersburg-ca-romanii-nu-l-urasc-nu-vrem-sa-ajutam-ucraina-dar-romania-e-condusa-de-bruxelles-3802631
• Reuters on Romania’s court barring Diana Sosoaca from the 2024 presidential race: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/romanias-top-court-says-it-barred-candidate-presidential-race-over-pro-russian-2024-10-08/
• Agerpres on Ukraine’s stated reasons for banning AUR leader George Simion: https://agerpres.ro/2024/11/16/gov-t-releases-ukrainian-authorities-reasoning-for-entry-ban-against-aur-leader-simion–1387977
• Digi24 on George Simion’s entry bans from Moldova and Ukraine: https://www.digi24.ro/alegeri-prezidentiale-2025/alegeri-prezidentiale-2025-simion-despre-interdictia-sa-de-intrare-in-moldova-si-ucraina-o-vor-elimina-daca-au-nevoie-de-sustinere-3195959
• News.ro on George Simion’s Moldova entry ban until 2028: https://www.news.ro/externe/update-liderul-aur-george-simion-interdictie-intra-republica-moldova-pana-toamna-anului-2028-autoritatile-chisinau-au-prelungit-decizia-anterioara-cinci-ani-reactia-simion-1922401202002024021821480677
• European Commission proceedings against TikTok over Romanian election risks: https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/news/commission-opens-formal-proceedings-against-tiktok-election-risks-under-digital-services-act
• European Commission Romania page on TikTok election-risk proceedings: https://romania.representation.ec.europa.eu/news/comisia-initiaza-proceduri-oficiale-impotriva-tiktok-cu-privire-la-riscurile-electorale-temeiul-2024-12-17_bg
• Agerpres on Romania’s Constitutional Court annulling the 2024 presidential election process: https://agerpres.ro/justitie-si-interne/2024/12/06/curtea-constitutionala-a-anulat-intregul-proces-electoral-la-alegerile-prezidentiale–1399602
• Reuters profile on Calin Georgescu and Romania’s cancelled election: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/calin-georgescu-far-right-outsider-who-could-be-romanias-new-president-2024-11-25/
• Reuters on Calin Georgescu court measures and criminal investigation: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/romanian-court-upholds-measures-against-presidential-election-frontrunner-probe-2025-03-06/
• Reuters on Calin Georgescu being barred from the May 2025 rerun: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/romanian-far-right-candidate-barred-may-presidential-vote-2025-03-09/
• News.ro on final first-round 2024 presidential results showing Calin Georgescu at 22.94 per cent: https://www.news.ro/politic-intern/aep-rezultate-finale-turul-i-al-alegerilor-prezidentiale-calin-georgescu-22-94-elena-lasconi-19-18-marcel-ciolacu-19-15-finalisti-in-turul-ii-georgescu-si-lasconi-1922401325002024111621848063
• Euronews and Reuters on Liviu Dragnea’s final 3 years and 6 months sentence: https://www.euronews.com/2019/05/27/romanian-supreme-court-upholds-corruption-conviction-against-ruling-party-leader-dragnea
• Euronews and Reuters on the Grindeanu government, PSD and Romania’s 2017 corruption-decree protests: https://www.euronews.com/2017/06/21/mps-vote-to-oust-romanias-pm-sorin-grindeanu
• Time on Romania’s 2017 anti-corruption protests and the emergency decree: https://time.com/4660860/romania-protests-corruption-problem/
• Reuters on PSD and AUR backing the 2026 no-confidence vote against Ilie Bolojan’s government: https://www.reuters.com/business/romanias-two-largest-parties-call-no-confidence-vote-pro-european-government-2026-04-28/
• Reuters on the 2026 collapse of Ilie Bolojan’s government after the no-confidence vote: https://www.reuters.com/world/romanias-pro-eu-minority-government-ropes-parliament-debates-no-confidence-2026-05-05/
• Republica opinion piece on the Tate brothers’ Moscow arrival: https://republica.ro/paine-apa-si-gunoaie
• Reuters on Andrew and Tristan Tate appearing in Moscow before the St Petersburg forum: https://www.reuters.com/world/ex-hollywood-maga-trumps-ballroom-commissioner-us-crowd-russias-davos-2026-06-02/
• The Moscow Times on Andrew and Tristan Tate arriving in Moscow and receiving a bread-and-salt welcome: https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2026/06/02/manosphere-influencer-andrew-tate-arrives-in-moscow-a92907
• Reuters on UK prosecutors authorising 21 criminal charges against Andrew and Tristan Tate: https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/uk-prosecutors-authorised-21-criminal-charges-against-andrew-tristan-tate-2025-05-28/
• Reuters on the brothers saying they will face UK charges after Romanian proceedings: https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/tate-brothers-will-return-uk-face-charges-after-romanian-legal-proceedings-2025-05-30/
• The Guardian on Andrew Tate’s UK legal position and lifted travel restrictions: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/may/05/andrew-tate-sought-cps-assurance-he-would-not-be-arrested-if-he-returned-to-uk-court-hears