Russian nationalist ideologue Alexander Dugin, who has close links to Vladimir Putin's Kremlin, has described his vision of a Russian lead 'Eurasian empire', incorporating Austria, as well as Hungary, Romania, Serbia and Slovakia. Dugin, who has called for Russia to completely annex Ukraine and exterminate Ukrainians, made the comments in an interview with far-right Hungarian website alfahir.hu, and declares his belief in the necessity of a Eurasian empire to counteract the influence of the "nihilistic" West.
He said that he envisions an end to nation states, with a US-led western block facing off against a Eurasian Union that would stretch as far west as Austria.
The empire would defend cultural identities in a globalised world in which people are reduced to "mechanical migratory stocks of grouped atoms," reports the Local.
Experts believe that Dugin, who has served as an adviser to Russian State Duma speaker Sergei Naryshkin, has been instrumental in forging an alliance between the Kremlin and far right anti-EU groups within Europe.
In the interview he calls Hungary's far-right Jobbik party, whose MEP Bela Kovacs was recently exposed as a KGB spy, "realistic and philosophical."
Representatives of Austria's far-right Freedom party have attended conferences with Dugin in Vienna and Moscow, reports the news website.
