Philosopher and political scientist Aleksandr Dugin, 60, is one of the main theorists who inspired President Vladimir Putin to expand Russian presence in neighboring countries, and he has a legion of followers in Brazil and diverse ties to the country. Called by many "Putin's ideologue" and compared in influence to the Brazilian Olavo de Carvalho, Dugin has come to Brazil twice, speaks Portuguese, founded a study center in São Paulo and is an admirer of MPB, bossa nova and Brazilian literature. He likes Ariano Suassuna, Darcy Ribeiro and Vinicius de Moraes.
The Russian is the creator of the Fourth Political Theory, in which he defends an alternative to the three ideologies that dominated the 20th century: liberalism, communism and fascism. According to his proposal, formulated in a 2009 book, the main subject of history would be the people, not the individual or the State. In the European context, it is reflected in "Eurasianism", the expansion of Moscow's presence to all regions of historical influence of the Russian people — no matter if they belong to other sovereign countries, such as Ukraine.
In an interview with Folha in 2014, Dugin stated that Ukraine is an "artificially created failed state." That year, he came to Brazil for a seminar on the ideas of the philosopher Julius Evola (1898-1974), considered one of the theorists of Italian neo-fascism.
Translated by Kiratiana Freelon