Syriza's ties with the Russian "fascist"

Observers of European events immediately understood that the new Greek government led by the leftist Syriza could shake the fragile unity of the European Union in condemning the Russian intervention in Ukraine.

However, recently leaked emails reveal the extent and duration of Syriza's ties to Kremlin-linked Eurasian ideologue Alexander Dugin and Russian oligarch Konstantin Malofeyev, who is believed to have funded the separatist movement in Ukraine, writes Radio Free Europe (RFE/RL). .

Anton Shekhovtsov, who researches far-right politics in Europe, says that the sympathies of Syriza and its coalition partner, the right-wing Independent Greeks party, towards Russia go far beyond Greek standards.

"Pro-Russian sentiment is quite widespread in Greece in general," says Shekhovtsov. "However, the foreign policy of those two parties is openly pro-Russian. And the fact that the new Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras made the first contacts with the Russian ambassador in Greece probably means that they will try to establish significant cooperation with Russia."

In December 2014, the Russian hacking group Shaltay Boltai released emails they took from Georgi Gavrish, a close friend of Dugin and an official in Dugin's Eurasian movement. Many of the emails are related to Dugin and Malofeev's efforts to build a circle of pro-Russia European politicians and intellectuals.

Several dozen emails reveal conversations between Gavriš and people from Syriza, said Hristo Grozev, a media investor and blogger whose specialty is information published in Eastern Europe.

The messages show "very close cooperation on strategy, PR, etc.," says Grozev, stating that Syriza's consultants send Dugin and Garvish a "strategic memorandum" on the party's positions and policies, so that the two can make comments and suggestions.

Gavriš lived in Greece for several years until 2013. "During those five years, Gavriš served Dugin to find like-minded people or influential politicians and public figures to link them to Dugin's ideology of Eurasianism versus Atlanticism," says Grozev.

One of the people involved in those exchanges is Nikolas Laos, a Greek intellectual and adviser to Syriza with business ties in Russia. He is a partner in the Russian corporate security firm R-Tekhno, RFE/RL further states.

In one of the leaked emails, Laos wrote to Rainbow: "I know very well how the enemy works, and with your support, I can fight back effectively and forcefully."

He encouraged Malofeev to work on establishing an "elite club" of politicians who would support Russia

The second message allegedly refers to Panos Kamenos, the leader of the Independent Greeks party and now the new Greek defense minister. A message dated October 25, 2014, written by influential blogger Dimitris Konstantakopoulos, who worked as a strategy consultant for Syriza, discusses the Athens Institute for Geopolitical Studies, which Kamenos founded with his friend, Professor Philippos Calidis.

"Panos appeared almost a month ago full of enthusiasm, asking for regular cooperation. And then he went to Moscow for personal reasons, as he told us (for a friend's wedding), and then disappeared from the face of the earth. I'm very curious if I'll ever find out how they'll explain it," the message said.

A month after this message was written, the Kamenos Institute signed a "memorandum of understanding" with the influential Russian Institute for Strategic Studies (RISI). RISI was part of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) until it was placed under the supervision of the Russian President's office in 2009.

Dugin is also linked to the new Greek foreign minister, Nikos Kotsias. In April 2013, Kocias, then a professor at the University of Piraeus, invited Dugin to give a speech on International Politics and the Eurasian Vision. During that lecture, Dugin said that Greece should not join the Eurasian Union led by Russia, but participate "in redesigning the architecture of Europe" and form the "eastern pole of European identity" in the EU together with Serbia and others.

Dugin has been involved in such activities throughout Europe for years, says Andreas Umland, a professor at Kyiv's Mohila Academy. "He has been closely associated for more than 20 years with a whole range of different ultra-right intellectuals in France, Italy, Belgium, Great Britain," says Umland.

Those efforts had little impact until Dugin joined forces with billionaire Konstantin Malofeyev, a conservative Orthodox Russian nationalist, RFE/RL writes. On February 20, 2014, Dugin wrote a letter to Malofejev in which he identified potential key partners in Western Europe.

Grozev says that Dugin encouraged Malofeyev to connect with these figures in order to establish an "elite club" of politicians who will support the Russian direction.

At the end of May 2014, according to media reports, Dugin and Malofejev hosted representatives of these movements, including Syriza, at a secret conference in Vienna.

There, as researcher Shekhovtsov says, Dugin and Malofeyev "met with representatives of the Austrian Freedom Party, the Bulgarian Ataka, and the French National Front."

"So they were trying to build connections in order to promote Russian foreign policy," he added.

Grozev emphasizes that there is no direct evidence that Dugin or Malofeyev provide any material support to Syriza or any other party. He states, however, that Dugin and Gavriš often include people close to Malofejev as recipients of their emails.

Freemasons in Greek politics are Russia's greatest enemies

Grozev says he is surprised by the amount of "mysticism" in the correspondence between the Greeks and Dugin's men. Nikolas Laod and Gavrish, in particular, constantly talk about alleged Freemasons "within the Greek political environment, who, in their opinion, are the greatest enemies of the Russian direction."

The details of this ideology are confusing and contradictory. Umland describes Dugin's vision as a "radical form of anti-Westernism" that ultimately boils down to a fascist program.

"He is a fascist," Umland says of Dugin.

"He promotes an ideology that boils down to the revival of the Russian nation as a new Eurasian nation and the total reconstruction of both world politics and Russian domestic politics. In the past he praised the SS. He had very ambivalent statements about the Third Reich, Italian fascism and German Nazism. He also sees himself in the fascist tradition".