How Alexander Dugin rose from fringe philosopher to Putin's "brain".
Created: 09/11/2022, 17:42
By: Nadja Zinsmeister
Russian nationalist hardliner Alexander Dugin at the farewell ceremony for his daughter Daria Dugina.
© Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP
In the past, the ideologue Alexander Dugin did not play a major role in the Kremlin.
Since the murder of his daughter, however, he has been considered one of the most important philosophers at Putin's side.
Munich/Moscow - Alexander Dugin is referred to as the "brain" of Putin.
The ultra-conservative ideologue is best known for his anti-Western values.
For a long time he received little attention in the Kremlin, but now he is one of the chief ideologues alongside Russian President Vladimir Putin.
One tragic event in particular helped him rise: the murder of his daughter Daria Duginas.
Alexander Dugin: From fringe philosopher to Putin's chief ideologue
As two Kremlin insiders revealed to the Russian newspaper
Meduza
, especially in recent months, ultra-conservative thinkers have visited the Kremlin privately and exerted an influence on Russian ideology there.
According to the sources, one of them is the ideologue Alexander Dugin, a Eurasian political philosopher and proponent of the idea of a “Russian world”.
At first, this idea related only to the solidarity of Russians living abroad with their homeland.
However, these values have radicalized over time.
Dugin is now supposed to call for a strict rejection of any “threatening” values of the “collective West”.
The philosopher has been known for a long time.
He has been trying to advance his ideology since 2000.
Based on the rejection of the West, he strives for a "Eurasian Union", a federation of the former USSR countries.
According to Meduza
, he wants to use this alliance to
position himself against the West.
After 2010, however, interest in him in the Kremlin waned as Dugin was increasingly perceived as public figures with an ultra-conservative fringe audience.
That has now changed, as the insiders revealed to the newspaper.
"Today, Dugin's vocabulary is in Putin's mouth," one of the sources said.
"Putin's Brain": How the Death of His Daughter Boosted Alexander Dugin
The fact that Putin had little idea of the ideological ideas for a long time and showed little interest in them changed abruptly with the murder of Dugin's daughter, Daria Duginas.
The young woman was a political activist who supported the Ukraine war.
On August 20, she was the victim of a car bomb attack.
The Russian President was then "seriously" interested in the philosopher and sent him a message of condolence.
On September 30, Putin then used Dugin's favorite insult "The Anglo-Saxons" for the first time.
The designation refers to the assumed Anglo-American dominance in the west.
The newspaper's insiders explained Putin's attachment to Dugin as a direct result of Dugina's death.
Her assassination was used to make it clear to the President that Western enemies were attacking the "custodians of traditional values".
Before her death, the philosopher's influence was very limited, which is why the West had for a long time wrongly referred to him as "Putin's brain".
Today the name should be all the more appropriate.
(
nz
)