"Lord of Chaos". Putin and Russian nationalists

The Institute for the Study of War in the current analytical release suggested that Putin seems to be trying to reorient himself to public opinion, and therefore began to distance himself from the “unrealistic demands of nationalists regarding military actions in Ukraine.” “Putin may be trying to take control of the military blogger community (military bloggers like Prilepin, Dugin - Author) by attacking its credibility and encouraging self-censorship... While Putin may also consider de facto censorship of military bloggers, such measures remain unlikely given the ongoing Putin's efforts to maintain relations with selected media bloggers,” ISW noted (and for the second time in recent days).

I personally would not rush to such conclusions, because they are based on literally one message of Dmitry Peskov.

Putin cannot "distance himself" from radical Russian nationalists (rather - chauvinists) for an elementary reason. All his rhetoric and official policy are built precisely on their ideology.

Here is an example for you. Literally a few hours after the publication of the ISW press release, Putin resorted to the usual figures of speech in his video address to the participants of the meeting of defense ministers of SCO and CIS member countries.

He noted that the West is deliberately going to “multiply the chaos and aggravate the international situation.” “The USA and its satellites in international relations are betting on the force factor and they have actually destroyed the architecture of strategic stability that has been created for decades, aggressively expanding the geography of NATO expansion.”

So, chaos. It is this marker of the ideological doctrine of the Russian war of all against all that is the conceptual basis of Aleksandr Dugin's rhetoric. This is what he wrote literally the other day: “Modern war is a war of chaos by definition. It is now that the concept of discordia, "enmity", which we meet in Ovid, and which is inherent in a certain - very ancient - interpretation of chaos, is revealed. Chaos is based precisely on enmity -  and not on the enmity of some with others, but of all with all. And the goal of the war of chaos is not the world and not a new order, but the deepening of enmity to the last layers of the human personality.”

The fact that Putin accuses the West of "promoting chaos" is of the category "the thief's hat is on fire". It was Russia that until recently was the "gas station" for the world, and it produces chaos in export volumes.

And not for the first time and not for the last time. Let's recall the Syrian crisis and the "new resettlement of peoples" generated by it, when columns of "refugees" from the unstable, conflict-ridden East stormed the borders of the EU. Or completely fresh "hikes" of trained "refugees" to Belarus with the aim of breaking through to Poland. Or the Russian trace in the recent "coup" of the "Reichsburgers" in Germany. I'm not talking about the constant influence of Russian propaganda and agents on the brains of the average Europeans (and Americans as well), instilling fear of cold, famine and other "Egyptian punishments".

Therefore, it is premature and groundless to say that Putin has broken with the nationalists.  Because without them, without their doctrines and worldview constructions, there simply would be no Putinism as a phenomenon, as the backbone of the Russian state system, as a justification for aggression and war.

After all, when Putin talks about the "success" of his "special operation" - the "liberation" of the Ukrainian Azov region and the transformation of Azov into the "inner sea of ​​Russia", he mentions Peter "the Great", the idol of Russian nationalists of all times. It is here that Putin's nationalism correlates with his crazy fixed idea: to become the second Peter, to "break the window to Europe" by force and war, and to keep Russia itself in the blinds of the archaic wild Asian empire.

Dugin's "schizo war" also explains the absurdity of both Russian propaganda and the rhetoric of Putin himself. We can throw up our hands a hundred and five hundred times and wonder how he or his propaganda army calls "black" what in the morning was presented as "white", laugh at the discrepancies between the primary goals of the "special military operation" and "current victories" - but yes it is. A war of chaos, a schizo war - this is the explanation for all this insanity.

Putin does not ignore Russian nationalists, does not distance himself from them. He mimics in the hope of gaining time and concessions from the West. For further war and achievement of their goals.

Understanding this will guarantee the collapse of his plans. And the collapse of Russia itself - the empire of evil, chaos and inhumanity.

About the author: Ihor Hulyk, journalist, Editor-in-Chief of the Espreso.West website. 

The editorial team does not always share the opinions expressed by the authors of the blogs.