Despite the ongoing tensions between Russia and the West – or perhaps because of them – Putin enjoys remarkable support among some European intellectuals and politicians. The Kremlin’s portrayals of the uprising in Ukraine as a fascist coup, and of Russia’s annexation of Crimea and support for Ukrainian separatists as defensive, have been reproduced through a dense network of Putin supporters – including the Princeton University professor Stephen F. Cohen, Czech President Miloš Zeman, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, the German leftist Matthias Platzeck, and the Dutch rightist Geert Wilders – and media outlets.