Ultranationalist ideologue reiterates his support for Vladimir Putin despite the loss of Kherson
Russian ultranationalist ideologue Alexander Dugin, seen as one of the most zealous supporters of the invasion of Ukraine, has assured that he remains loyal to Vladimir Putin despite the withdrawal of Moscow forces from the Ukrainian city of Kherson .
“The West (…) started spreading a fake saying that myself and Russian patriots have been turning away from Putin since the surrender of Kherson and allegedly demanding his departure”said Saturday evening Mr. Douguine on Telegram. “Grieving for the loss of Kherson is one thing. But our relationship to the Commander-in-Chief is another. We are loyal to Putin and will support the military operation and Russia until the end”he added.
On Friday, Alexander Dugin had published a separate message where he seemed to criticize the Kremlin after the loss of Kherson. He asserted that the Russian power could no longer “give one more thing” and “the limit had been reached”. Based on this message, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) asserted in a note that the retreat from Kherson provoked “an ideological divide between personalities favorable to the war and to Vladimir Putin”which would erode trust in the Russian president.
Alexandre Douguine defended himself. “If we have any grievances, it is against members of the ruling elite who are already fleeing and betraying one after another the supreme commander”, he wrote on Saturday. He also said that Russian society should mobilize “spiritually and ideologically” to win the conflict without the use of nuclear weapons.
The retreat from Kherson, a strategic city in the south of Ukraine, was publicly supported by other Russian personalities demanding, however, to employ the most radical solutions in Ukraine, in particular the Chechen leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, and the leader of the group paramilitary Wagner, Evgueni Prigojine.
Alexandre Douguine, 60, has long promoted an ideology, the “neo-eurasism”, which calls for liberating the world from Western excesses by building an empire stretching from Europe to Asia. At the end of August, his daughter, Daria Dougina, was killed in a bomb attack near Moscowan attack attributed by Russia to Ukrainian services.