Alexander Dugin on Integrating the Eurasian Space

I think we need to restructure relations with the countries of the post-Soviet space, that is, with the separatist entities that have broken away from our united great power.

I think we need to restructure relations with the countries of the post-Soviet space, that is, with the separatist entities that have broken away from our united great power. Its core is Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine, and even this core is currently in turmoil. The other countries are also part of the same great space. We still cannot find the right tone of conversation with them. Perhaps this is not easy after what we ourselves did in the 1990s. What we did was terrible.

We need to look forward and understand that we need some other style of relations. I think we should build a clear algorithm for each country — how exactly we encourage friendly gestures towards us, what we consider such gestures, and how we respond to insults, offenses, and attacks. Not to mention outright betrayal.

Each country requires its own approach, but there must be a system. So far, we have acted sporadically. Putin negotiates with leaders, and then everything is passed on to unknown parties and conveniently falls apart.

Currently, there are important changes in the organizational part of interaction with the near abroad on our side. I think this is a great opportunity to move from chaos to system.

We need to build a strategic integration plan for each country. Analyze the foundations, assess resources, determine a timeline. We need to gather our lands. Enough of scattering and watching them drift further and further away from us. Like ice floes.

If we want to be a pole in a multipolar world, then we need all the post-Soviet countries. We must gather them and turn them into a zone of common prosperity.

We need to develop methods by which we will curb any manifestations of direct Russophobia in real time. There are thousands of ways to exert influence. We use three or four of them, barely managing. We must establish integration mechanisms that are long-term and effective.

For now, looking at the short term, one could say it is good enough. But once you expand the scale, it becomes clear that it is absolutely not good enough. Everything happening with Azerbaijan, Armenia, Moldova, and even Kazakhstan (thank God Georgia is not on the front line, but how reliable and long-term that is, again, there are no guarantees) is, in fact, a catastrophe of our Eurasian policy. It should not be this way. Everything needs to be seriously changed.

This is what the authorities are working on now. It was simply impossible to delay any longer.

Let us hope that all miscalculations are realized, and we move on to systematic work on integrating the Eurasian space.