Politics
The ‘Dark Enlightenment’ as a Bridge Between the US and Russia
June 24, 2025
-
Marlene Laruelle
Historian and political scientist, George Washington University
Historian and political scientist Marlene Laruelle writes about the recent “Forum 2050: Image of the Future” in Moscow, which combined traditionalism with techno-futurism. She argues that as a PR stunt, the forum was a success, demonstrating that ideological bridges between the US and Russia exist beyond the Trump-Putin relationship and beyond the shared disdain for the liberal world order.
Even though geostrategic realities seem to continue to put Russia and the US at odds, Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin have expressed interest in renewing ties and redeveloping at least some level of cooperation. Both leaders and their entourages in fact share a quite similar ideological code based on an illiberal worldview. With both governments and the myriad ideological entrepreneurs around them looking for potential ideological synergies, the “Forum 2050: Image of the Future,” which took place on June 9-10 in Moscow, marks the most obvious attempt by Russian actors to get in tune with Trumpism and especially with its techno-futurist version.
Ideological overlap of Putinism and Trumpism
Both the Russian and US administrations are made up of multiple ideological ecosystems, which express the interests of broader sets of elites who are interested, or at least intrigued, by what the other side has to offer.
On the Russian side, we find, schematically, groups for whom a conservative West, as embodied by Trump or Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, represents Russia’s best ally and a source of ideological inspiration. One of the most vocal defenders of Trump in Russia is Alexander Dugin, who has celebrated what he calls “MAGA communism” (to designate the anti-globalization, pro-working-class tone of Trump’s 2024 campaign) and, obviously casting himself as a lynchpin of the ongoing US-Russia rapprochement, regularly rejoices that Trump and Putin share the same values.
Ideological overlap of Putinism and Trumpism
Both the Russian and US administrations are made up of multiple ideological ecosystems, which express the interests of broader sets of elites who are interested, or at least intrigued, by what the other side has to offer.
On the Russian side, we find, schematically, groups for whom a conservative West, as embodied by Trump or Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, represents Russia’s best ally and a source of ideological inspiration. One of the most vocal defenders of Trump in Russia is Alexander Dugin, who has celebrated what he calls “MAGA communism” (to designate the anti-globalization, pro-working-class tone of Trump’s 2024 campaign) and, obviously casting himself as a lynchpin of the ongoing US-Russia rapprochement, regularly rejoices that Trump and Putin share the same values.
Writer Alexander Prokhanov believes Russia as a civilization-state is essentially opposed to the “collective West,” even its conservative elements, and cautions against being "seduced by Trump's revolution." Source: Wiki Commons
Dugin’s latest book, The Trump Revolution: A New Order of Great Powers, published by the radical right-wing publisher Arktos in 2025, sees Trump’s victory as a shift by the “Deep State,” which has supposedly recognized the “irreversible crisis of globalism” and now advocates a new US empire that will coordinate the West as a unified civilization.
But for another part of the Russian establishment, the idea of Russia as a civilization-state means it is consubstantially opposed to the “collective West,” even when it is conservative. This is the case, for instance, with Alexander Prokhanov – a friend and supporter of Dugin, despite their disagreement on this question – who declared that “Trump is a new, fantastic myth with which the US addresses a humanity thirsting for a great renewal. Let us not be tempted by this myth. Let us not be seduced by Trump’s revolution. The US is changing worn-out cylinders, tearing off torn tires from wheels, but the rims remain the same, the engine remains the same, and the US will rush along the roads of history, regardless of markings and road signs.”
But for another part of the Russian establishment, the idea of Russia as a civilization-state means it is consubstantially opposed to the “collective West,” even when it is conservative. This is the case, for instance, with Alexander Prokhanov – a friend and supporter of Dugin, despite their disagreement on this question – who declared that “Trump is a new, fantastic myth with which the US addresses a humanity thirsting for a great renewal. Let us not be tempted by this myth. Let us not be seduced by Trump’s revolution. The US is changing worn-out cylinders, tearing off torn tires from wheels, but the rims remain the same, the engine remains the same, and the US will rush along the roads of history, regardless of markings and road signs.”
“Cautious toward Trump are also the supporters and crafters of Russia’s renewed ties with the ‘world majority’: many in Moscow believe that Russia should continue to partner with the Global South, no matter the prospects for a rapprochement with Washington.”
On the US side, there is no unity of views on Russia either. The neocons who joined the Trump administration are viscerally opposed to any reset of relations with Moscow. Meanwhile, in the America First realm, there are many voices that are potentially “Russia-compatible” or even Russophile. Some are motivated by religion: for many figures in the American Christian right, Russia’s stance on traditional values makes Putin a herald of Christianity. There is even a movement to convert to Orthodoxy among those seeking a more “authentic” faith. For others, like Tucker Carlson, the overriding objective remains dismantling the liberal order, with two major fronts where Russia is more an ally than an adversary: winning the culture wars at home and promoting an America First policy internationally.
A third group admires the counterrevolutionary radicalism of the Russian far right. Take Steve Bannon, the former head of the iconic alt-right media outlet Breitbart News and advisor to Trump at the start of his first term, who shares with Dugin an admiration for figures such as Julius Evola.
A fourth bridge is the so-called “Dark Enlightenment,” a long-marginal ideological current that combines neo-reactionaryism and techno-futurism. Today, its ideas inspire Elon Musk and Vice President JD Vance. Other adherents include Peter Thiel (one of Facebook’s first investors, cofounder of PayPal, now chair of Palantir, which specializes in software platforms for big data analytics) and Curtis Yarvin, a blogger who is now seen as one of the most radical inspirations of Trumpism.
Forum 2050: Promoting a Russian version of techno-futurism
Techno-futurism, as encapsulated by “Forum 2050,” offers a new realm for a US-Russia relationship based on cooperation, emulation and competition.
A third group admires the counterrevolutionary radicalism of the Russian far right. Take Steve Bannon, the former head of the iconic alt-right media outlet Breitbart News and advisor to Trump at the start of his first term, who shares with Dugin an admiration for figures such as Julius Evola.
A fourth bridge is the so-called “Dark Enlightenment,” a long-marginal ideological current that combines neo-reactionaryism and techno-futurism. Today, its ideas inspire Elon Musk and Vice President JD Vance. Other adherents include Peter Thiel (one of Facebook’s first investors, cofounder of PayPal, now chair of Palantir, which specializes in software platforms for big data analytics) and Curtis Yarvin, a blogger who is now seen as one of the most radical inspirations of Trumpism.
Forum 2050: Promoting a Russian version of techno-futurism
Techno-futurism, as encapsulated by “Forum 2050,” offers a new realm for a US-Russia relationship based on cooperation, emulation and competition.
“Organized by the Tsargrad Institute – an offspring of the monarchist oligarch Konstantin Malofeev‘s Tsargrad TV channel – Forum 2050 offered an excellent opportunity for its leaders, Malofeev and Dugin, to showcase their ideational creativity to the Kremlin.”
Konstantin Malofeev, an ardent proponent of "Russian AI," presenting a ”good Russian robot” at Forum 2050. Source: Wiki Commons
Indeed, the forum hosted Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova, Duma Deputy Speaker and United Russia member Pyotr Tolstoy, A Just Russia party leader Sergei Mironov and Alexei Goreslavsky, the current head of the influential Internet Development Institute, as well as some senior representatives of Russian state agencies and private companies. It showed the Kremlin that it could bring foreign guests, such as Elon Musk’s father Errol Musk, clearly the star of the forum – even though he is at odds with his prodigal son – conspiracy theorist Alex Jones (who has been acquainted with Dugin for years), right-wing influencer Jackson Hinkle and contrarian figures such as economist Jeffrey Sachs.
Over two days, on display was a wide array of topics traditional for Tsargrad, summarized in Malofeev’s keynote speech, itself a summary of the institute’s strategy document released in early 2025. To survive as an ethnic nation (Malofeev distinguishes himself from Russian officialdom by rhetorically insisting on Russia as an ethnic, not a multinational nation) and remain a great power in the future, Russia, Malofeev argues, needs to make two major leaps: demographic and technological.
Demography has been a classic theme of Malofeev and his Tsargrad network. His keynote at the forum, complemented by several panels, proposed a whole pronatalist plan based on financial support for families, encouraging women to leave the job market, restrictions on abortion and a housing program inspired by US-style suburban living to offer bigger homes to Russian families. Malofeev’s pronatalism is accompanied by virulent remarks condemning immigration from the Caucasus and Central Asia – another Tsargrad trademark.
The mooted technological leap is a newer, more original contribution of the forum, offering a still-in-the-making blend of Russian scientific tradition and US techno-futurist culture. Thiel is mentioned in the Tsargrad’s report, and the forum was heavy on references to (Elon) Musk.
The first panel, “Russian Cosmism and the Race to Mars,” hosted Musk’s father and science-fiction writer Sergei Pereslegin, known for his view that climate change is positive for humanity. Pereslegin presented Russia’s philosophical vision of the cosmos as a new space to be conquered and inhabited (osvoenie).
Over two days, on display was a wide array of topics traditional for Tsargrad, summarized in Malofeev’s keynote speech, itself a summary of the institute’s strategy document released in early 2025. To survive as an ethnic nation (Malofeev distinguishes himself from Russian officialdom by rhetorically insisting on Russia as an ethnic, not a multinational nation) and remain a great power in the future, Russia, Malofeev argues, needs to make two major leaps: demographic and technological.
Demography has been a classic theme of Malofeev and his Tsargrad network. His keynote at the forum, complemented by several panels, proposed a whole pronatalist plan based on financial support for families, encouraging women to leave the job market, restrictions on abortion and a housing program inspired by US-style suburban living to offer bigger homes to Russian families. Malofeev’s pronatalism is accompanied by virulent remarks condemning immigration from the Caucasus and Central Asia – another Tsargrad trademark.
The mooted technological leap is a newer, more original contribution of the forum, offering a still-in-the-making blend of Russian scientific tradition and US techno-futurist culture. Thiel is mentioned in the Tsargrad’s report, and the forum was heavy on references to (Elon) Musk.
The first panel, “Russian Cosmism and the Race to Mars,” hosted Musk’s father and science-fiction writer Sergei Pereslegin, known for his view that climate change is positive for humanity. Pereslegin presented Russia’s philosophical vision of the cosmos as a new space to be conquered and inhabited (osvoenie).
“In his keynote, Malofeev voiced the need for Russia to revive the Soviet tradition of space exploration and participate in the race to Mars, alone or in partnership with the US and/or China, arguing that it will have repercussions for all industrial sectors of the economy.”
He also made the case for mass development of robotics, biotechnology, geotechnology and, of course, AI – but in national terms. He advocates a “Russian AI,” as well as a “good Russian robot“ (dobryi russkii robot) whose LLM would run on the Bible, Russia’s medieval chronicles, Domostroy (a 16th-century set of Russian household rules) and classic Russian authors, ranging from Pushkin to Mendeleev… and Dugin.
In fact, there is a long, native tradition of Russian techno-futurism known as cosmism. This philosophical movement emphasizing the religious aspect of space exploration and control over nature was embodied by Nikolai Fedorov (1828-1903), Konstantin Tsiolkovsky (1857-1935) and Alexander Chizhevsky (1857-1964). Cosmism presents itself as a scientific exegesis of Christianity, suggesting that the quest for immortality and liberation from suffering will be achieved through faith, combined with technological knowledge and the “conquest” of space. Cosmists argue that thanks to Orthodoxy, Russia will produce great advances, launching interplanetary travel, transforming nature and climates, and establishing agriculture in space. More importantly, by living in space, humanity will have to transform itself and produce morally and physically superior beings, who are destined to become immortal through the mastery of bodily temporality and the reconstitution of atoms into different life forms.
Conclusions
In terms of intellectual history, Forum 2050 failed to build on Russia’s rich tradition of techno-futurism: there were no specific panels devoted to cosmism, to the study of the biosphere initiated by the geochemist Vladimir Vernadsky (1863-1945) or to Alexander Prokhanov – aged 88 but still writing in Zavtra – a central figure in “spiritualizing” the Soviet industrial legacy.
As a PR stunt, however, Forum 2050 achieved its goal, demonstrating that ideological bridges between the US and Russia exist beyond the personal connection between Trump and Putin, beyond the shared disdain for the liberal world order and the EU that embodies it. Forum 2050 can thus be seen as the first official Dark Enlightenment event in Russia and a potential catalyst for a push for a new techno-futurism language in tune with the US one.
In fact, there is a long, native tradition of Russian techno-futurism known as cosmism. This philosophical movement emphasizing the religious aspect of space exploration and control over nature was embodied by Nikolai Fedorov (1828-1903), Konstantin Tsiolkovsky (1857-1935) and Alexander Chizhevsky (1857-1964). Cosmism presents itself as a scientific exegesis of Christianity, suggesting that the quest for immortality and liberation from suffering will be achieved through faith, combined with technological knowledge and the “conquest” of space. Cosmists argue that thanks to Orthodoxy, Russia will produce great advances, launching interplanetary travel, transforming nature and climates, and establishing agriculture in space. More importantly, by living in space, humanity will have to transform itself and produce morally and physically superior beings, who are destined to become immortal through the mastery of bodily temporality and the reconstitution of atoms into different life forms.
Conclusions
In terms of intellectual history, Forum 2050 failed to build on Russia’s rich tradition of techno-futurism: there were no specific panels devoted to cosmism, to the study of the biosphere initiated by the geochemist Vladimir Vernadsky (1863-1945) or to Alexander Prokhanov – aged 88 but still writing in Zavtra – a central figure in “spiritualizing” the Soviet industrial legacy.
As a PR stunt, however, Forum 2050 achieved its goal, demonstrating that ideological bridges between the US and Russia exist beyond the personal connection between Trump and Putin, beyond the shared disdain for the liberal world order and the EU that embodies it. Forum 2050 can thus be seen as the first official Dark Enlightenment event in Russia and a potential catalyst for a push for a new techno-futurism language in tune with the US one.
Share this article
Read More
