July 14, 2026 — 3:30pmOne Nation senator Malcolm Roberts said Russian president Vladimir Putin had “earned his respect” by invading Ukraine, describing the four-year war in Eastern Europe as a fight against “globalists” in a podcast appearance last year.The comments are the latest in a string of fringe views expressed by Roberts which have intensified scrutiny of the Queensland senator and his party, a day after this masthead reported he had called American conspiracy theorist Alex Jones “a beacon of hope around the world”.One Nation senator Malcolm Roberts and podcaster Adrian D’Amicoyoutube.com/@AdrianDAmicoSpeaking on the Conversations with Adrian podcast, hosted by Australian Adrian D’Amico in September last year, Pauline Hanson’s loyal colleague praised Putin, saying he viewed the Russian leader as “standing up to the globalists” – a term commonly used as a pejorative in far-right politics and in various conspiracy theories, often with antisemitic tropes.“When I look at the Ukraine War, I see Putin as standing up to the globalists and earning my respect for doing so,” Roberts said. “He knows what’s going on in Ukraine and it’s a war against the globalists.“The globalists are entrenched in Ukraine and Russia was controlled by the globalists – no longer.”Roberts was last month criticised by the Executive Council of Australian Jewry for “normalising” an antisemitic trope, after he told Israeli podcaster Efrat Fenigson in September 2024 that the United States government had been “hijacked by these globalist parasites since 1913”.Roberts has previously made controversial statements about the conflict, including social media posts questioning whether Nazis were involved in Ukraine’s defence and describing Western support for Ukraine as a “grubby war” and “Zelensky’s meat grinder”.The war has resulted in massive casualties, with estimates from a July 2026 study by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies of a combined total of over 2 million troops killed or wounded since February 2022 – including about 1.4 million Russians.Moscow has frequently asserted that the administration in Kyiv remains under the sway of extremist nationalists and neo-Nazis, a claim that has been dismissed as baseless by the Ukrainian government and its international partners. Volodymyr Zelensky is the first Jewish president of Ukraine.Despite the presence of various prominent far-right organisations within Ukraine, before the 2022 invasion they had failed to secure a foothold in the political mainstream, typically attracting less than 2 per cent of the national vote.Reports have surfaced of both individual Ukrainian and Russian combatants wearing Nazi-associated insignia.Roberts has aired a string of conspiratorial views since he was first elected in 2016, including recently refusing to rule out the Bondi massacre as a “false flag”, and using an antisemitic trope to claim “globalist parasites” had hijacked the United States government.Roberts, who is on leave and travelling abroad, was contacted for comment.Hanson herself has faced criticism this week for meeting far-right anti-Islam activist Tommy Robinson in Britain, who is also under scrutiny for travelling to Moscow with funding arranged through a foundation linked to X owner Elon Musk’s family.Hanson’s past month has rasied eyebrows among senior members of One Nation who are worried she is misreading the electorate and continuing to associate with fringe figures instead of growing her mainstream appeal.In 2017, Hanson praised Putin as someone who “stands up for his country”, while downplaying questions around Russia’s involvement in the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, which killed 38 Australian citizens and residents.“Did he push the button?” she said at the time, although she has since supported Ukraine’s right to defend itself and Australia’s bipartisan military support and sanctions.Then deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce strongly criticised her comments, warning against admiration for authoritarian leadership and pointing to the freedoms and democratic safeguards in Australia.“Do you like the way you are not overseen by the secret police? Do you like the way people are just locked up because apparently they are on the wrong side of the government?” he asked at the time.In 2023, an international team of investigators found “strong indications” Putin had provided the supply of heavy anti-aircraft weapons to Ukrainian separatists who shot down the flight, but said there was insufficient evidence to prosecute him or any other suspects who brought down the flight that killed all 298 people on board the Boeing 777 flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur.Joyce on Tuesday distanced himself from Roberts’ praise for American conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, telling Sky News Australian he did not believe “one second that Sandy Hook was a red flag, nor obviously was Bondi, and I don’t believe the US is a terrorist organisation”.He said Roberts was entitled to express his own opinions, but insisted they should not be treated as One Nation policy.“We do in One Nation give people the liberty to state their views, and Malcolm’s stating his, and he’s entitled to do that,” Joyce said.Pressed on whether Roberts was fit to remain a senator, Joyce declined to engage in a personal attack, saying only: “I’m just not going to go into them.”He added: “It’s an issue which I can’t agree with ... you’ve got my position. I’ve just told you I don’t agree with them.”Cut through the noise of federal politics with news, views and expert analysis. Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter.From our partners