‘Putin’s brain’: What Alexander Dugin reveals about Russia’s leader

Much has been made of what Putin has in common with Stalin. Both leaders brook no dissent: they subordinate truth to ideology and preserve their lies through terror. Yet such obvious parallels between these Russian leaders, past and present, matter less than their differences. Indeed, when trying to work out what makes Putin tick, there’s another figure from Russia’s past who serves as a more useful role model than Stalin: the Christian fascist Ivan Ilyin.

Back in 2005, Putin arranged for the reburial of Ilyin at Moscow’s Donskoi monastery, where those who fell foul of Stalin’s secret police were burned and buried. It was a mark of respect for Ilyin, a resolute opponent of communism, who died a year after Stalin. For years, his legacy had been in tatters. In communist Russia, after all, there was little place for Ilyin’s ideology. But when the USSR fell, Ilyin soon came to be seen in a new light.