For more than a decade, Surkov has been known in Russia as the brains behind the throne—the chief architect of Putin’s system of bloodless authoritarianism (known in Surkov’s writings as “sovereign democracy”).
Surkov has cultivated a reputation closer to that of a hipster savant, with a wide range of interests that are hardly in line with the traditions of Orthodoxy. His presence on the Holy Mountain would not just seem out of character. It would also signal a broader shift in the political class, says Alexander Dugin, one of the Kremlin’s favored ideologues, who was among Putin’s entourage on Mount Athos in May and confirmed that Surkov was also there. “The fact that even secular cynics like Surkov joined such a delegation shows that the Orthodox worldview has already spread deeper through the layers of the political elite,” Dugin says.
For more than a decade, Surkov has been known in Russia as the brains behind the throne—the chief architect of Putin’s system of bloodless authoritarianism (known in Surkov’s writings as “sovereign democracy”).
Surkov has cultivated a reputation closer to that of a hipster savant, with a wide range of interests that are hardly in line with the traditions of Orthodoxy. His presence on the Holy Mountain would not just seem out of character. It would also signal a broader shift in the political class, says Alexander Dugin, one of the Kremlin’s favored ideologues, who was among Putin’s entourage on Mount Athos in May and confirmed that Surkov was also there. “The fact that even secular cynics like Surkov joined such a delegation shows that the Orthodox worldview has already spread deeper through the layers of the political elite,” Dugin says.
