Much has been made of what Putin has in common with Stalin. Both leaders brook no dissent: they subordinate truth to ideology and preserve their lies through terror. Yet such obvious parallels between these Russian leaders, past and present, matter less than their differences. Indeed, when trying to work out what makes Putin tick, there’s another figure from Russia’s past who serves as a more useful role model than Stalin: the Christian fascist Ivan Ilyin.
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A History of Love and Hate in 21 Statues (Aurum Press, £9.99) by Peter Hughes is available now in paperback
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