Daria Dugina wasn’t just a Russian political commentator. She was the daughter of longtime Putin ally, Alexander Dugin — a radical, Russian nationalist who has called for his homeland to confront the West, including the United States, for years. And now, with the recent, mysterious murder of his daughter, Dugin seems to want revenge. Rebekah Koffler, author of ‘Putin’s Playbook,’ is a U.S. intelligence expert who once lived in the Soviet Union. She joins Glenn to dissect Daria’s passing, Alexander Dugin’s influence on Putin, and what the Russian president may do next as a result of it all...
Transcript
Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors
GLENN: Rebekah Koffler, thank you so much for joining us on short notice, as yesterday there was a car bomb. Do you agree with me, that it was clearly meant for Aleksandr Dugin, and not his daughter?
REBEKAH: Wow. Hey, Glenn. It's such a pleasure to be back on your show with your audience. Yes. That is the conventional wisdom that it is the saga. Aleksandr Dugin and the mastermind of the ideology of Eurasianism, that underpins Putin's entire document strategy, which is including the destruction of Ukraine. It is him who is the target. However, there's also an alternative, a hypothesis, is that both of them were targeted.
Because, originally, they were supposed to be driving in one car, from the lecture and the big event that Dugin was speaking at. And it is at the last moment, that the father, Aleksandr Dugin switched cars. So it was because his daughter was just as vocal in the anti-West, you know, narrative, that underpins Russia's current anti-US policy, she possibly was also the target.
GLENN: Okay. Because she's also in the media. But he is the leader of -- of this, I just think it's a cult, all around the world. He is infecting even America, with some of his captain T traditionalism. And people just don't understand how dangerous this is. Do you believe that it would be in the best interest of Ukraine to try to pull this off?
REBEKAH: It -- okay. So it is hard to tell. On the one hand, Ukrainians could perfectly be justified to target this person.
GLENN: Correct.
REBEKAH: Again, Dugin has advocated for the destruction of Ukraine.
GLENN: Right. He's actually calling -- if I'm not mistaken, he's actually calling for the elimination of Ukrainians, if you will.
I don't remember the word he used. But it was -- it seemed like a death Holocaust kind of thing. But he's calling for more than just occupying.
And he is also the -- the idea planter or the seed behind Crimea, and now this incursion into Ukraine, correct?
REBEKAH: 100 percent. So, yes. It's possible, there's motive. Why Ukrainians would want to target. Now, to pull something off like that, is not a slam-dunk.
So a lot of the resources, have gone into this operation. But let me tell you about Dugin a little more. Because he's not only anti-Ukraine. He is anti-America.
I have a whole chapter in my book, dedicated to Aleksandr Dugin. Because he's considered to be Putin's dream. His writings. His political first of all. Ultra nationalist. He was the thought leader behind Eurasianism. As I said, which underpinned Putin's policy of the so-called Russian world. Okay?
And I would like to give you some quotes, about Dugin. Who called on Russia to counteract US policy. At all levels. And in all regions of the world.
And specifically, he says that Russia -- and I quote, must weaken, demoralize, and deceive, in order to win. It is especially important to introduce (inaudible) order into America's internal reality. To encourage separatism, an ethnic, social, and racial conflict. To support dissident movements, and extremist racist groups and sex. And to destabilize internal processes. So this is who we are talking about. It's the mastermind of a very dangerous ideology, and now his daughter is gone, and the Russians are up in arms and about -- the Russian media erupted over the weekend, blaming the United States, and blaming Ukraine, for what they classify as a terrorist attack.
GLENN: It is -- it is interesting to me, that his plan, on how to destabilize America, while they say the right is in bed with Putin, the plan that Dugin gave to Putin, it -- would be everything that the left is involved in. And I don't mean necessarily Democrats. I mean the left of, you know, racial -- racial division, et cetera, et cetera.
So the media and Russia comes out with this. I don't know if we have any credibility to be able to say, we didn't do this.
I hope to God we didn't do this. What would be a Putin response?
REBEKAH: Right. So when the Russians blamed the United States, first, they're not saying that we directly actually orchestrated this. But what they are implying, given our support to Ukraine and the fact that we admitted that we provide targeting information to Ukraine. So that they could effectively defend their country against the Russian invaders. They -- they accuse us of having orchestrated our deaths. So the response is going to be, I'm concerned. Is further escalation. Because, again, Dugin is a symbol. And his daughter has turned into a martyr right now. Has been turned by the Russian media. And remember, this attack and the explosion -- basically, the way that this was done, is the explosive device was put under the -- was remotely detonated.
So this explosion comes on the heel of a series of attacks in Crimea. And certainly, the Russians believed Crimea is a red line for Ukraine, despite the fact that Crimea is Ukrainian territory. But because the Russians annexed it in 2014. And they consider it part of Russia right now. So in combination, all of this, you know, escalation, is going to put pressure on Putin, to ratchet up his military assault on Ukraine. And, in fact, President Zelensky himself warned yesterday, that around Wednesday, this coming Wednesday, in two days, he's concerned about the Russian staging something really nasty. Some provocation. Because on Wednesday, it's Ukraine's Independence Day, when Ukraine became -- and then the Soviet Union. So I share that concern, on Wednesday. Or shortly after. We know that there are plenty of opportunities, specifically one of the extreme risks. Moderate probability. But extremely high risk of a disaster, that exists right now. It's related to the nuclear power plant in (inaudible), that both sides are accusing each other of shelling. And that is at the risk of erupting in -- you know, in -- hopefully not soon, but there's definitely that risk.
GLENN: So we're talking to Rebekah Koffler. You actually lived in the Soviet Union, if I remember right.
REBEKAH: Absolutely. I was born and raised there. I came to the United States in '89. Already, as a young adult. So I went through the whole indoctrination system and everything.
GLENN: Okay. So he's the author of Putin's Playbook, and a U.S. intelligence expert. The -- the idea that we had anything to do with it, or that Ukraine did, I find hard to believe, because both sides would have to be insane to do it. And it would be very difficult. We could pull it off. But Ukraine pulling it off, I think would be very, very difficult.
The idea that this was some anti-ultra nationalist group, trying to kill him, seems difficult, because it would only make him into a martyr. But who would have in Russia. Who would have the ability and the desire to do this?
REBEKAH: Okay. So I personally don't find the reports of that -- that it's -- you know, the national Republican army, which is supposedly an anti-Putin partisan organization, that states this. This is not credible to me. And the intelligence is inconclusive as far as who specifically did this.
Because it's very, very fresh right now. I am almost certain, that the United States has absolutely nothing to do with this.
The FSB, which is the domestic security services, in Russia, has attributed this already, to a Ukrainian woman, named Natalia Voss (phonetic), who apparently, according to the FSB that is -- now, you know, remember, FSB cannot be trusted. But that doesn't mean that they are announcing the preliminary investigation isn't correct.
GLENN: Correct.
REBEKAH: But this is what they assessed. That Natalia entered Russia on July 23rd with her 12-year-old daughter Sophia Shaban (phonetic), and reportedly rented an apartment in the same building as Daria Dugin, Dugin's daughter, that was killed. And so -- and then apparently, Natalia fled to Estonia.
Now, we need to -- to do more digging, and certain that US Intelligence is involved in the analysis and the investigation on our own, you know, here obviously. Not in Russia. But at this pint, it's very difficult to tell. Yes, Ukrainians, you know, do claim that there's an anti-Putin movement going on in Russia. But, remember, Ukrainians are just as much on this kind of information as the Russians are. And they're fully invested in waging this disinformation in order to dislodge psychologically. They know how it's done.
So both sides are, you know, invested in this. And this is going to go on, forever. In the meantime, you know, Glenn, we keep pumping in now weaponry.
GLENN: I know.
REBEKAH: To Ukraine, who just announced another $775 -- million dollars.
GLENN: Yeah. Million.
REBEKAH: Of assistance. We are hoping that it will help Ukraine to change the battlefield conditions. But, again, they're fighting -- a much more superior, you know, adversary. And this -- there's no end to this.
GLENN: So, Rebekah, would you do me a favor? I would like to stay in touch with this week, as this story develops, and we'll check back with you tomorrow, if there's any developments.
But this is extraordinarily concerning to me. And Americans need to understand who Aleksandr Dugin is. Because his tentacles are in America. And he is also -- he has fans on the right in America. And I think he's an extraordinarily dangerous man. Thank you so much, Rebekah.
REBEKAH: Absolutely. Yes. You got it.
GLENN: Good. Rebekah Koffler. The alien of her book is Putin's playbook. Hang on just a second. Putin's playbook. All right, our sponsor this half-hour is American Financing.
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GLENN: I have profound trust in God. I have profound trust in Divine Providence, that if we act the way we're supposed to act, doors will open to us. Doors of understanding and protection. And I think they already have in many cases. I do not want you to be underprepared or underinformed. So I'm going to give you their information here on why this Dugin thing really bothers me, and I just -- I will do that here in just a couple of minutes. I need more than two minutes to be able to talk about it.
STU: It's incredible too. I guess the footage that came out of it, after the explosion goes off. Aleksandr Dugin is standing in the streets, watching his daughter, you know, burn to death.
GLENN: Burn to death.
STU: I guess she was already dead by the time the car caught on fire, per se.
But this is --
GLENN: Whoever did this, you -- they might be responsible -- this is an example of what could turn into an Archduke Ferdinand moment. I've said for a long time, World War III will either start in a country or with a name that you've never heard or cared about. And this -- this might be one of -- I hope not. But this might be one of those moments.
STU: And wouldn't it be something if it was the person that no one had ever heard about, except this audience who heard Aleksandr Dugin's name a thousand times on the show?
GLENN: Right. You might have heard Aleksandr Dugin on other shows in America. And they praise him. They've had him on and praised him. Warning, at the highest, highest possible level of warning. If anyone is involved and is recommending Aleksandr Dugin as a guy with an answer or a guy who can help. Run as fast as you can within away from that individual. Dugin is extraordinarily dangerous. Don't take my word for it.
I don't believe in banning books. You should read his book. The fourth political theory. And you will understand, this guy wants to bring about literally Biblical Armageddon.
