Between Solidarity and Anxiety: Populist Radical Right Narratives on Ukrainian Refugees in Central and Eastern Europe
Journal: Government and Opposition
Year: 2025

Abstract Populist radical right parties across Europe have consistently capitalized on refugee crises to advance anti-immigrant agendas. By employing extensive content analysis of social media posts from February 2022, the onset of the Russo-Ukrainian war, to March 2023, this article examines how Bulgarian, Czech, German and Polish populist radical right actors discursively contest and reinvent the legitimacy of Ukrainian war refugees. Two dominant narratives emerge. First, radical right politic