Aleksandr Dugin

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

In 1997, Aleksandr Dugin published *The Foundations of Geopolitics: The Geopolitical Future of Russia*, a book believed to have garnered significant impact among Russia's military, police and foreign policy elites. In it, he argued that Ukraine should be annexed by Russia because 'Ukraine as a state has no geopolitical meaning', 'no particular cultural import or universal significance, no geographic uniqueness, no ethnic exclusiveness', that '[its] certain territorial ambitions represen[t] an enormous danger for all of Eurasia and, without resolving the Ukrainian problem, it is in general senseless to speak about continental politics'. He argued that Ukraine should not be allowed to remain independent, unless it is a 'sanitary cordon', which would be 'inadmissible'. Also in 1997, Dugin hailed what he saw as the arrival of a 'genuine, true, radically revolutionary and consistent, fascist fascism' in Russia, in an article titled 'Fascism – Borderless and Red'; previously in 1992, he had in another article defended 'fascism' as not having anything to do with 'the racist and chauvinist aspects of National Socialism', stating in contrast that 'Russian fascism is a combination of natural national conservatism with a passionate desire for true changes.' Another of Dugin's books, *The Fourth Political Theory*, published in 2009, has been cited as an inspiration for Russian policy in events such as the war in Donbas, and for the contemporary European far-right in general. Dugin became a lecturer at the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia in the 1990s, and his *Foundations of Geopolitics* has become part of the curriculum there, as well as in several other military and police academies. According to John B. Dunlop of the Hoover Institution, '[t]here has perhaps not been another book published in Russia during the post-communist period that has exerted an influence on Russian military, police, and foreign policy elites comparable to that of [...] *Foundations of Geopolitics*.'

Reader's Guide

Aleksandr Dugin is significant as a Russian thinker widely known for fascistic views. His 1997 book *The Foundations of Geopolitics* is believed to have garnered significant impact among Russia's military, police and foreign policy elites, and may have been influential in Vladimir Putin's foreign policy leading to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Although there is a dispute on the extent of the personal relationship between Dugin and Putin, Dugin's influence exists broadly in Russian military and security circles. He became a lecturer at the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia in the 1990s, and his *Foundations of Geopolitics* has become part of the curriculum there, as well as in several other military and police academies. His 2009 book *The Fourth Political Theory* has been cited as an inspiration for Russian policy in events such as the war in Donbas, and for the contemporary European far-right in general.

Did You Know?

• Dugin's 1997 book *The Foundations of Geopolitics* argued that Ukraine should be annexed by Russia because 'Ukraine as a state has no geopolitical meaning'.
• In 1997, Dugin hailed the arrival of a 'genuine, true, radically revolutionary and consistent, fascist fascism' in Russia.
• Dugin became a lecturer at the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia in the 1990s.
• According to John B. Dunlop of the Hoover Institution, no other post-communist Russian book has exerted comparable influence on Russian military, police, and foreign policy elites as *Foundations of Geopolitics*.
• Dugin's 2009 book *The Fourth Political Theory* has been cited as an inspiration for Russian policy in the war in Donbas.