Charlottesville's alt-right leaders have a passion for Vladimir Putin - 2017-08-16
Charlottesville's alt-right leaders have a passion for Vladimir Putin August 16, 2017,
The alleged ties between the administration of President Donald Trump and Russia are currently the subject of intensive media scrutiny. But perhaps less well known are the connections between a Kremlin ideologue described as "Putin's brain" and key members of the U.S. alt-right and white supremacist movement, including those behind the Charlottesville protest.
Alexander Dugin is a Russian ultranationalist and former adviser to Sergei Naryshkin, a key member of Vladimir Putin's United Russia party who was appointed Russian foreign intelligence chief in 2016. Dugin supports Orthodox Russia's role as a bulwark against what he has portrayed as the decadent forces of the liberal West.
Amongst Saturday's headline speakers was Richard Spencer, who claims to have invented the term "alt-right," and has disseminated its white nationalist ideology via his National Policy Institute think-tank, as well as a network of websites and publishing ventures.