Panagiotis Lafazanis is a Greek politician. He performed as the head of a new Greek left-wing political party, Popular Unity until 2019. He has voiced his support for Russia in the Russian invasion of Ukraine. He published an election poster with the slogan “Russia is right, the United States and NATO have constructed hell in Ukraine.” The poster was illustrated with the military symbol “Z”. In January 2023, he launched a new Russophile party with the name Democratic Movement of National Liberation.
He contended that Russia was right in the “tragic war in Ukraine.” He accused Washington and NATO of what was occurring. His party also opposes anti-Russian sanctions and does not endorse the supply of weapons to the Ukrainian army, which they called Nazi. Lafazanis emphasised that the conflict in Ukraine turned not only against Russia and Russians but also against the Greeks of the Black Sea, Odesa, Mariupol, Donetsk, as well as Lugansk and Crimea.
Lafazanis, who held the ministerial post during the administration of former Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, also called on the people to overturn the “vicious, corrupt, oligarchic, slave political regime” and convey the banner online. “Send a signal that the US and NATO must be overthrown in Ukraine. Say out loud that American rule must terminate in our country, Europe and the world. Demand the establishment [of] a pluralistic world order, where even small states have the right to have a voice and a presence,” he stated.
Lafazanis has previously argued that his new party seeks to unite several political parties to win back “Greece independence” and end the so-called practice of Athens being employed as a front for other Western powers. He also looks for Athens to establish an independent foreign policy, which normalises ties with all countries, including Russia. Lafazanis highlighted that he rejects anti-Russia hysterics and assumes that sanctions against Moscow must be lifted.
Moreover, Lafazanis as the leader of Syriza’s Left Platform has been concerned in some disputes with the more centrist party leader Alexis Tsipras. He has called “for SYRIZA to [be] cleaned by a new wave of radicalization in all areas, ideological, political, programmatic”, resisting “the Troika, memoranda, neoliberalism and finally capitalism itself”, and has voiced against continued Greek membership of the euro, representing the European Union as “totalitarian”. On 11 July 2015, he revolted against the SYRIZA/ANEL coalition by abstaining on a vote for austerity steps ACfor a new bailout within the Eurozone.
