 Politicians like Vladimir Zhirinovsky started building their narrative on categorically denying Ukrainian ethnos.At the same time, the ruling party cultivated close ties with Eurosceptic, far-right and far-left political movements, supporting them financially and inviting them to Eurasian conferences in Crimea and Saint Petersburg.In March 2015, the Russian nationalist party Rodina organized the International Russian Conservative Forum in Saint Petersburg, inviting a majority of its far-left and far-right (including openly neo-Nazi) supporters from abroad, many of whom had visited a similar event in Crimea in 2014