The Kremlin adviser dubbed “Putin’s Rasputin” says Russia under President Vladimir Putin is similar to America under President Trump — and urged MAGA supporters to believe his boss is not “the bad guy.”
Alexander Dugin, a Russian philosopher often referred to as “Putin’s brain,” hailed the second Trump administration as a step against globalism and suggested the American president’s 2024 victory was evidence that “Putinism has won in the US.
“We have a different United States: not the stronghold and head headquarters of globalism but the kind of sovereign national state, global power with traditional values,” Dugin told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria on Sunday as he tried to liken Washington with Moscow.
“In these new conditions, I think Putin’s Russia and Putin, personally, stops to be the main enemy, the main evil guy, the bad guy,” he added.
“So I think that Trumpists and the followers of Trump will understand much better what Russia is, who Putin is and the motivations of our politics.
“So … we have discovered many points that are common for … Trump’s America and Putin’s Russia,” the philosopher concluded.
The comparison came as Trump and Putin’s relationship appeared to sour Sunday morning, with the US president slamming the Russian dictator over his failure to commit to an American-backed cease-fire deal in Ukraine.
Dugin did not address the latest divide between Trump and Putin but suggested it is still too early to tell if the US and Russia can work together to undermine “European globalism.”
Instead, Dugin called on the US to withdraw its support from Ukraine so as to allow Russia to deal with Europe undeterred.
“I think that Trump, sooner or later, and maybe sooner than we presume, he will discover that Putin has absolutely nothing against the United States, no reason to continue the fight, no reason to oppose … no field of competition,” he said.
Trump previously steered clear of heavily criticizing Putin, often lauding him as a “genius” and even suggesting Ukraine was at fault for the 2022 Russian invasion.
But the president offered his first tough criticism at the Kremlin on Sunday, saying he was “very angry” and “pissed off” at Putin over recent hurdles to reach a cease-fire in Ukraine, NBC News reported.
Trump warned that the US would levy a 25% to 50% tariff on all Russian oil starting next month if a cease-fire deal isn’t reached.
Trump had previously accused Russia of “dragging their feet” in the negotiations and suggested Moscow was trying to delay an end to the war.
Despite Trump’s threats, he maintains that he still has a “very good relationship” with Putin and that the two are slated to talk again later this week.
