Voting with Putin: Gender, LGBT Rights, and Tacit Support for Russia among Europe’s Parliamentarians

What explains the variation between and within Europe’s political parties over how to respond to Russia’s international aggression and domestic illiberalism? We examine this question using a unique dataset of votes on 1140 resolutions and amendments that explicitly target Russia in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) between 2007 and 2021. We argue that Putin’s portrayal of Russia as a defender of traditional family values against liberal egalitarianism, especially against LGBT rights, contributes to divisions between and within Europe’s parties. Consistent with this argument, we find that women and parliamentarians who express support for LGBT rights have become less likely to support Russia compared to other members of their national parties. However, this applies mostly to female MPs within culturally liberal parties and only becomes apparent after Putin’s culturally conservative turn. In addition, parties with more women in leadership become less likely to support Russia. We identify these effects using national party fixed effects and by matching on observables. We discuss the implications for understanding European responses to Russia as well as the literature on gender, foreign policy, and legislative behavior.