Following the visit of CIA Director John Ratcliffe to Moscow, Alexander Dugin, the ideologue of modern Russian imperialism, decided to reassert himself and issued yet another imperial formula: “If you want us not to escalate the situation, give us Ukraine”
This was written by Ivan Arefiev specifically for the Prompolitinform portal.
Reading this, you realize that while a person may spend decades writing about geopolitics, empires, Eurasia, the West, and the “Russian world,” they still haven’t grasped one simple truth: you don’t give away what isn’t yours. Because it belongs to others.
Therefore, Mr. Dugin, the answer will be devoid of multi-volume philosophy. Short. Clear. And in the most Ukrainian way possible:
YOU GET NOTHING, NOT UKRAINE, BUT THE BOOMERANG IS ALREADY ON ITS WAY!
Ukraine is not an apartment that Washington can transfer to Moscow. It is not a suitcase left at a train station. It is not a piece of pie that great powers can divide among themselves. And it is not a gift to the Kremlin for a promise “not to escalate.” Ukraine belongs to Ukrainians.
And if they haven’t understood this in Moscow over the years of this great war, I suggest they take a closer look at the map of Russia itself. A lot of informative things have been happening there lately.
While Dugin draws the borders of yet another Russian empire in his head, the Ukrainian Defense Forces are drawing a very different map. A map of Russian military airfields. Military-industrial complex facilities. Oil refining infrastructure. Warehouses. Logistics hubs. And everything else that sustains the Russian war machine.
Our Defense Forces have conducted and continue to carry out very serious long-range operations on the territory of the RF. And these are no longer just isolated, spectacular episodes. This is a system. Ukrainian long-range strike capability has ceased to be a promise. It has become an argument. An argument that Russian air defense is seeing over its own head more and more often.
You wanted the war to live only in Ukraine. For explosions to happen in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Odesa, Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia. For Ukrainians to sit in shelters while people in Moscow calmly drank coffee and listened to Dugin talk about the greatness of Russia. It didn’t work out.
War has one property that is very unpleasant for the aggressor: it returns to where it came from. And our Defense Forces are today very professionally helping it find its way back. For hundreds of kilometers. And sometimes significantly more.
That is why Dugin’s phrase “give us Ukraine” sounds especially cynical today. You should first learn to defend what you use for the war against Ukraine. Because while Russian “geopoliticians” are dividing the world into spheres of influence, the Ukrainian military is practically reducing Russia’s ability to redraw that world.
That is the nature of this geopolitics. Without a beard. Without multi-volume treatises. But it works.
Reference:
Alexander Dugin is a Russian ultra-nationalist ideologue, publicist, and one of the most famous proponents of neo-Eurasianism and the “Russian world” concept.
His most famous work is “Foundations of Geopolitics,” published in 1997. For decades, Dugin has promoted the idea of Russian dominance in the post-Soviet space and confrontation with the West, and he denies Ukraine’s right to exist as a fully-fledged, independent geopolitical entity.
He is often referred to as one of the ideologues of modern Russian imperialism.
At the same time, the popular label “Putin’s brain” should be treated with caution: there is no convincing evidence that Dugin acts as a personal advisor to Putin or directly determines the Kremlin’s decisions.
Yet, his rhetoric is important for another reason. For years, Dugin has been trying to provide a beautiful “philosophical” packaging for a very old Russian habit: taking what belongs to others. And Ukraine occupies a special place in his construction.
There is only one problem: Ukraine did not fit into this imperial packaging. And Russia is paying a huge price for the attempt to force it in by strength.
WHY DOES DUGIN STILL TALK SO CALMLY ABOUT THE DESTRUCTION OF UKRAINE?
After Dugin’s latest statements, one wants to ask a much simpler question: how can a person who has spent years sowing hatred, justifying aggression, and effectively wishing for the disappearance of an entire state, still calmly lecture the world on who should be “given Ukraine”?
Perhaps it is because history has not yet presented him with the final bill. But there is one interesting thing here. A boomerang. It is a stubborn thing. You can avoid seeing it for a long time. You can convince yourself that it has been lost. You can even continue to stand in front of the camera and talk about the greatness of the empire.
But if you have been throwing it at others for decades, one day you really should look behind you. Because the boomerang returns. And the best boomerang for Dugin is not physical violence.
No. Let him live. Let him watch. Let him see how Ukraine, which he proposed to wipe off the map for years, remains on the map. How the Ukrainian language is heard. How the Ukrainian flag flies. How the Ukrainian army fights. How Ukrainian technologies become stronger. How Ukrainian drones reach places where Russian imperialists felt untouchable just yesterday.
Let him watch not Ukraine die, but his imperial dream. That will be the real boomerang. Not a bullet. Not revenge. But the collapse of the idea to which you have dedicated your life.
Therefore, Mr. Dugin, there is no need to appeal to the Americans: “Give us Ukraine.” America does not own Ukraine. Europe does not own Ukraine. And Moscow certainly does not.
There are millions of Ukrainians who have already answered the question of who this land belongs to. There are the Armed Forces of Ukraine. There is the Security Service of Ukraine. There is the GUR. There are Ukrainian drones. There is Ukrainian long-range reach. And there is our ability to strike where, until yesterday, Russia was certain that war would never come.
So, remember a simple thing. No one will give you Ukraine. You came for Ukraine, and you received a war, the consequences of which the territory of the aggressor state is feeling more and more strongly.
You wanted to deprive us of a future, and now you are forced to spend resources on protecting your own rear. You wanted to erase Ukraine from the map. As a result, Ukrainian drones are forcing you to look at your own map more and more carefully.
Therefore, to your imperial “Give us Ukraine,” the answer will not be American. Not from Brussels. Not diplomatic. It will be Ukrainian. Old. Clear. And with character.
YOU GET NOTHING, MR. DUGIN. NOTHING, NOT UKRAINE!
And as for the boomerang… Hurry up, Alexander Gelyevich. It is already on its way.
And the most painful thing for you will be to see that it did not return for Ukraine. It returned for your imperial dream.
Ukraine was. Ukraine is. Ukraine will be.
Author: Ivan Arefiev
Collage: Andrii Atlantov
