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The Russian philosopher Alexander Dugin said earlier this week that the Russian military retreat from Kyiv was a result of his influence within the Kremlin.

RIA Novosti, a Kremlin-controlled wire news service that has amplified anti-Ukrainian rhetoric, reported on Dugin's comments to a Turkish newspaper.

The alliance of pro-Ukraine allies led by the United States is currently fighting the Russian army. The whole world will go up in flames.

Several books have been published by Dugin calling for a broader Slavic empire that would include Ukraine, as well as Moldova and Belarus.

Alexander Dugin.
Alexander Dugin, the neo-Eurasianist ideologue, sits in his TV studio in central Moscow, Russia, in 2016. (Francesca Ebel/AP)

Putin shares similar views. He argued that the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 made Ukrainian nationhood an outlier.

Since then, Ukraine has tried to move away from its larger neighbor and towards the West. Putin has seen that move as an insult, first trying to bring Ukraine back into the fold in 2014, when Russian forces and pro-Russian paramilitaries took over the Crimean peninsula, as well as two eastern border regions, Luhansk and Donetsk, with large Russian-speaking populations.

When the second invasion of Ukraine began in February, Russian forces moved toward Kyiv and other large cities, only to see their gains reversed by a spirited Ukrainian resistance. Russian units retreated into Belarus, while the Kremlin revised its war aims downward. Despite having once aimed regime change, Moscow appeared to indicate that it would settle for the gains it made in the east of the country.

Alexander Dugin speaks into a microphone while standing on a stage below a Russian language banner.
Philosopher and expert in geopolitics Alexander Dugin addresses a rally in central Moscow in support of the people of Donbas on June 11, 2014. ((Zurab Dzhavakhadze/ITAR-TASS/ZUMAPRESS.com)

In an interview with the Turkish newspaper, Dugin predicted a new countrywide offensive.

He described retreat as a pure tactical move that would allow the army to execute their vision.

Gains in the east are not a victory for Russia. He said that our soldiers will not return home until targets across the country have been destroyed or until Zelensky surrenders.

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