Oligarchs, ideologists and extremists: the penetration of Russia into Europe*

(International Eurasianist Movement symbol)

In that i´m going searching the characters of Russian action in Europe i´m discovering the existence of a network composed of the following elements: 

1 - Russian oligarchs, responsible for financing and promoting meetings and discussion groups among stakeholders;
2 - Russian ideologists, responsible for promoting pro-Russia ideologies in order to attract neighboring countries to it´s sphere of influence;
3 - Europeans politicians of the following trends: a) extreme right-wing, b) fascists, c) extreme left-wing. They all have in common a critical opinion about European Union (eurocepticism), US role in the world and Europe, liberal capitalism and, in general, cultural agenda of release of customs (gay marriage, abortion, minorities policies, etc), except for the extreme left. Lastly, they nourish sympathy for Russia and the country´s leadership personified by Putin.
4 - political activists of nazifascist, communist, nationalist and racialist character; responsable for acting inside Russia and establish contact with other European movements and groups on wich are inspired.

Groups 1, 2 and 4 are formed by people direct or indirectly linked to Kremlin, in a relation, in my opinion, of symbiosis with Russian government. That is, there would be no full government control over these groups, and these groups don´t exert influence in order to directly control the government of Moscow.

(Alexander Dugin)

The highlight within these actors is the International Eurasian Movement, created and led by Alexander Dugin, the Russian intelectual currently most influential. Dugin, as he has said, doesn´t claim to act directly on policy but lead it behind the scenes advising, monitoring, guinding, publishing books and articles and disseminating ideas through meetings and contacts inside and outside Russia.

The example of existing contacts in this network, penetration and the emergence of the extremist movements in Russia have origin and inspiration in European ideologies and political movements. Therefore, Russia imports these elements from Europe and then turn to (and against) it in order to absorb it to it´s sphere of influence.

 In following weeks i will detail everything about this network in this blog.

*published in Portuguese on June 26th 2015.