A meeting between Vannacci’s supporters and Dugin? Lavarini: “He’s a great man in the general’s eyes”

Is Moscow’s influence growing within Futuro Nazionale? Among General Roberto Vannacci’s loyalists, there is talk of an online meeting between FN’s national coordinator, Massimiliano Simoni, and Aleksandr Dugin, a Russian ultra-nationalist ideologue often described as close to the nationalist and imperialist circles that have supported Putin’s war. The date has yet to be decided, but the driving force behind the meeting is Roberto Jonghi Lavarini, a well-known figure in Milan’s neo-fascist circles and a close associate of Vannacci. Known to most as “the Black Baron”, Lavarini tells Il Foglio that the meeting will focus on Julius Evola, the Italian philosopher, writer and artist known for his links to fascism, which has inspired many far-right intellectuals. “Certainly, some reference to politics will be inevitable and a natural consequence, but our starting point is cultural and philosophical: Tradition and the decline of the liberal-capitalist West,” says Lavarini, adding that the meeting will take place “soon”, but that “for now, it is my proposal, subject to their availability”. Simoni, when contacted by this newspaper, stated that he had not been contacted about the meeting, but also that he did not know the man very well: “I remember him because of the attack on his daughter, Daria Dugina”. Would he meet him anyway? “As the general says, I could meet anyone. But right now I have other things on my mind. We have to prepare a strong election campaign.”

Simoni looks at the results of the by-elections in Calabria – the first elections to feature the Fn logo on the ballot paper – which were far from a success, whilst Lavarini extends the invitation to Vannacci as well. “I am working towards a sustained exchange of cultural, philosophical and geopolitical views amongst Italian, European, American (North, Central and South) and Eurasian (the former Tsarist Empire of All Russia) patriots. With this new, global yet multipolar perspective in mind, I invite everyone to participate and engage in debate, including the general,” he tells Il Foglio. “It is a broad, complex and lengthy process, but one that is inexorable and successful.” He sends us a few photos of himself with Dugin, whom he met in Milan a decade ago now. There have not yet been any direct dealings with Vannacci. But the two know each other well, Lavarini assures us: “Dugin regards Vannacci as an interesting political phenomenon and studies – from a safe distance – his evolution, strategy and tactics.” And the general? “He regards Dugin as a great intellectual, scholar and philosopher to be followed with close attention and natural sympathy.” That may well be so, but a meeting between the two is still merely an internal suggestion rather than an appointment to be marked on the calendar. For now, at least.