Dugin and other right-wing radical nationalists openly criticize the Russian president, accusing him of insufficient commitment to the “true Russian idea.”
On November 11, units of the Armed Forces entered Kherson and took the city under their control. This was another strategic defeat for Russia and forced a group of its troops to flee to the left bank of the Dnieper, suffering losses in the process. The “gesture of goodwill” from the occupiers caused sharp criticism among the ideologues of the “Russian world” and propagandists of the Kremlin, who began to directly blame Putin for the failure. The dictator is in a difficult position, because he cannot justify the failures in Ukraine in any way and risks losing the support of the most loyal supporters of the invasion. Analysts of the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) write about this.
Mainly, experts refer to the statement of the radical right-wing ideologist Aleksandr Dugin strong>, who called Putin an “autocrat” and accused him of failing to fulfill his duty to the people. The so-called philosopher noted that the task of an autocrat with unlimited power, which is Putin in Russia, is to independently save the state at the most difficult moment. Dugin believes that Russian ideology determines the responsibility of the Russian Federation to protect “Russian cities”, such as Kherson, Belgorod, Kursk, Donetsk and Simferopol. In his address, the ideologue with extremist views generally hinted that Putin would suffer the fate of the “rain king”, referring to James Fraser's work “The Golden Bough”, in which the king was killed because he could not cause rain in the dry season.
Criticizing Putin, Dugin did not blame the defeat in Kherson on the commander of the Russian forces in Ukraine, Sergei Surovikin, but harshly criticized the administration of the president of the Russian Federation, which supported “fake ideology” for fear of spreading ” a true Russian idea”.
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In addition to Dugin, the actions of the authorities are increasingly criticized by the main propagandists of the Russian Federation, such as Vladimir Solovyov and a number of war correspondents popular in social networks.
“Direct criticism of Putin among the pro-war community is almost unprecedented, and Dugin's loud and ill-advised attack on Putin may indicate a shift in the circle of Russian nationalist ideologues. Putin needs to retain the support of this community and has likely ordered some of his propagandists to suppress any criticism of the Russian withdrawal from the city of Kherson, as many state television news programs omit or downplay the implications of the withdrawal,” the ISW report said.
According to experts, the Kremlin dictator has found himself in an extremely difficult position: growing doubts among radical Russian nationalists about Putin's commitment to Russian ideology are reducing his appeal to the nationalist community, while the mobilization and great losses will probably continue to upset Russian society.
Read also: Kherson is the biggest loss of Russians after the escape from Kyiv, the sinking of the “Moscow” and the explosion on the Crimean Bridge
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Earlier it was reported that Russian media bloggers criticize the Ministry of Defense for the defeat in Kherson, while defending Surovikin.
