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In mid-September, internet sleuths scoured the website of an obscure Russian organization, the International Club of National Unity. Populated by various Russian politicians, state media propagandists, and security services operatives, the club declares that it was created in “accordance with Decrees of the President of the Russian Federation.” Although the club claims to support “humanitarian missions to the peoples of Ukraine … and other countries facing dire straits” on the basis of “respect, peace, harmony, and mutual assistance,” many of the supernumeraries associated with it are vocal advocates of nuclear strikes against Western capitals and Ukrainian cities.

What makes this instrument of Russian propaganda unusual, however, is that it contains the names of several Americans as members of its leadership team. The most prominent is Columbia University economist Jeffrey Sachs, who has promoted Kremlin talking points that delegitimize the Ukrainian state, including the canard that the 2014 Maidan Revolution was a coup backed by the United States. The recent evolution of Sachs from a widely respected academic to a willing propagandist for a dictatorial regime perpetrating an increasingly bloody and genocidal war cannot be explained without examining the phenomenon of the fellow traveler.

In mid-September, internet sleuths scoured the website of an obscure Russian organization, the International Club of National Unity. Populated by various Russian politicians, state media propagandists, and security services operatives, the club declares that it was created in “accordance with Decrees of the President of the Russian Federation.” Although the club claims to support “humanitarian missions to the peoples of Ukraine … and other countries facing dire straits” on the basis of “respect, peace, harmony, and mutual assistance,” many of the supernumeraries associated with it are vocal advocates of nuclear strikes against Western capitals and Ukrainian cities.

What makes this instrument of Russian propaganda unusual, however, is that it contains the names of several Americans as members of its leadership team. The most prominent is Columbia University economist Jeffrey Sachs, who has promoted Kremlin talking points that delegitimize the Ukrainian state, including the canard that the 2014 Maidan Revolution was a coup backed by the United States. The recent evolution of Sachs from a widely respected academic to a willing propagandist for a dictatorial regime perpetrating an increasingly bloody and genocidal war cannot be explained without examining the phenomenon of the fellow traveler.

The term “fellow traveler” has a long pedigree. It appeared in the early days of the Soviet Union, when the nascent communist state sought external support and hoped to foment revolutions in the capitalist world. Today, the term has come to describe a range of Western public figures who sympathize with Russia, its leadership, and its war.

Following Russia’s invasion of Crimea and the eastern Donbas in 2014, many of these allies were European. Nowadays, however, they are predominantly American and span the political spectrum. To be sure, one can still find pro-Kremlin stalwarts in Europe, such as former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and former Austrian Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl, who now lives in St. Petersburg. Both used to work for Russian energy companies. However, many of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s former European admirers, such as French far-right leader Marine Le Pen, have become critics of Russia since the full-scale invasion in 2022. Ironically, as parts of the European right have tempered their support for the Kremlin, Americans are now supplanting them.

Podcaster and right-wing influencer Candace Owens attends the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg, Russia, on June 4.Olga Maltseva/AFP via Getty Images

At the annual St. Petersburg Economic Forum in June, Putin’s American fellow travelers were highly visible, with right-wing podcaster Candace Owens the star of the show. Sachs—who is now a frequent guest on the TV show hosted by Vladimir Solovyov, the most virulent Russian cheerleader for annihilating Ukrainians and bombing Western cities—participated by video from New York. After attending the forum, Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan, who are wanted in Britain on........

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