3. Putin as Dictator Savior

Dugin was elated by Putin’s rise and soon was noted by the Kremlin as a potentially useful person. Dugin’s major attraction was that his theory, while having external similarities with Soviet ideological constructions, marginalized the economy in the overall picture and practically ignored nationalization. This was what led to the Kremlin’s support of Dugin’s political ventures, leading to the creation of the Eurasian Party, which pleased Dugin’s “American body,” i.e., the desire for fame and power. Still, soon enough, the Kremlin folk realized that they had overestimated the Russian people’s penchant for revolt, and many of them were quite happy with Putin’s pseudo-totalitarianism in the first years of his rule. In addition, Dugin exhibited not just his “American body”’s craving for success and power, but also his “old body” of Soviet dissident intellectualism. And this “body” did not just want to accommodate the wishes of the ruler, but play its own distinct role. Dugin wanted to guide Putin to lofty, grand goals. All of this led to Kremlin folk changing their minds about Dugin in the future.