In the aftermath of the Ukraine crisis, Nikonov was just one of a number of prominent Russian intellectuals pushing the ‘Eurasian’ thesis. Another was Alexander Dugin, an extravagantly bearded anti-Western ideologue, who was also a regular on Russian television – raging against the decadence and perfidy of the West and lauding the unique qualities of Russian culture. Dugin’s magnum opus, The Foundations of Geopolitics, argues that Russia is a victim of a Western conspiracy led by the US and Nato, which aims to contain and break the Russian nation.
