Aleksandr Dugin: ‘I see no reason why we should not use nuclear weapons’

Is the invasion of Ukraine a holy war? If that is how Vladimir Putin sees it, it might have something to do with the ideas of Aleksandr Dugin, a former anti-communist who is touted by some to be the Russian President’s favourite philosopher. He is described as a Rasputin-style mystic, a comparison which is aided by his thick beard.

For him, Ukraine is a proxy war against the ‘satanism’ of the West. While the level of his influence on Putin is disputed, there is no question that this unapologetic supporter of the Ukrainian invasion has had a major impact in Russian intellectual and political circles and has gained a growing audience in China, the Middle East, Latin America and the developing world.

I spoke to Dugin towards the end of last year, shortly after the first anniversary of the assassination of his 29-year-old daughter Darya, who was killed in a car bomb outside Moscow.