Inside the Mind of Putin's Ideologue: Sergei Karaganov’s War-Centric Doctrine

Trump's diplomatic effort is useless. Karaganov confirms this in chilling words – Ukraine’s "total defeat" is Russia’s only goal.

“This war has been extremely beneficial to us” - that is the first thought of Kremlin ideologue, one of the most influential Russian thinkers, and Vladolf Putler’s personal favourite Sergei Karaganov when asked about the Russian invasion of Ukraine. A former advisor to Putler, Karaganov heads the Council for Foreign and Defense Policy and is the progenitor of the Karaganov Doctrine, which states that Moscow should pose as the defender of human rights of ethnic Russians living in the "near abroad" for the purpose of gaining political influence in these regions, gave an exclusive interview to "Le Grand Continent," a French journal devoted to geopolitics, European, legal, intellectual, and artistic issues. It was Karaganov who tried to scare Europe and any other state trying to help Ukraine: in June 2023, he called for the use of nuclear weapons by Russia against NATO member states in Europe saying, "we will have to hit a bunch of targets in a number of countries in order to bring those who have lost their mind to reason." Considering recent events—the rapid acceleration of the conflict that has been smoldering since “the end” of the Cold War between the West and the countries of the Moscow-Beijing-Tehran axis—the voice of the man who is the direct inspiration for Putler's international thought is very important. Of course, in the interview, Karaganov tries to misinform us, the recipients of this interview—this is the normal action of a man who is so strongly integrated with the neo-Soviet services, and who comes from and is soaked in the culture that prevailed in the totalitarian USSR. His view of the aggression against Ukraine and his long-term opinion about Europe and NATO are particularly interesting. It is not hard to guess that Karaganov wishes all three entities the worst, but his self-confidence towards Ukraine, malice towards Europe (especially towards his former closest associates—the Germans) and blatant hostility towards NATO speak volumes. He shows his opinion, but colors it so that it is appropriately received by Westerners—the certainty is false; malice is disappointment (“we were so good to the Germans; and they betrayed us…”); hostility is a substitute for fear here—at least that's how we see it. It's also worth seeing what Karaganov thinks about Trump, the relationship with China, and the European Union