EURASIA PARTY

Political party. A socially oriented, étatist political party, the Eurasia Party was founded in 2002 by the right-wing ideologueAleksandr Dugin. The Eurasia Party rejectsAtlanticismand Western-style values for Russia and supports Russia’s centrality inEurasianaffairs. Historically, it has fielded few candidates, opting instead to support the ruling elite (principallyVladimir Putinand his successor,Dmitry Medvyedev) with which it has close connections. Rather than being a party of pure Russiannationalism, the party advocates in the name of all constituent peoples of theRussian Federation, includingTatars,Kalmyks, andChechens, among others, as well as supporting the traditional interpretations of the four principal Russian faiths: RussianOrthodoxy,Judaism,Islam, andBuddhism. The party has a membership of over 2,000 and has 50 provincial branches across Russia.