Elena Chudinova is a Russian traditionalist conservative author and publicist who is Russia’s leading critic of Islam, mass non-European immigration, and a dedicated proponent of Russia’s engagement with the European Right. Chudinova’s famous bestseller “The Notre Damme de Paris Mosque” – a fast-paced dystopian novel about a 2048 Western Europe taken over by Wahhabi Islam has been translated into most European languages and is awaiting publication in English. A devout Orthodox Christian, Chudinova has always been a steadfast ally of traditionalist Catholics and is a stringent critic of the pro-Islamic Eurasianists of Alexander Dugin. 

I was introduced to Elena Chudinova a few years ago by the hard right Russian-Israeli publicist Avigdor Eskin and was delighted to arrange a meeting between Chronicles foreign affairs editor Srdja Trifkovic and Elena Chudinova during Dr. Trifkovic’s visit to Moscow in the beginning of April. Chronicles readers’ introduction to Elena Chudinova’s work and thought is essential and long overdue.

Srdja Trifkovic: It was 16 years ago that I met [world-famous mathematician and eminent Russian conservative thinker] Igor Shafarevich here in Moscow and asked him if there was any hope for the recovery of Russia? He answered: ‘As a mathematician, I don’t think so, because I work with exact quantities, but as an Orthodox Christian, I believe that the benevolent effect of the Holy Spirit will intervene’. Do you think that what we have seen since that terrible time is indeed the intervention of the Holy Spirit to save Russia? Is it Divine Intervention that helped Russia recover and what is the outlook for the future?

Elena Chudinova: Of course, I can agree that if I was not a Christian, I would be pessimistic about Russia’s recovery because I was raised in the Soviet Union, which existed for some seventy years. Instead of the collapse of the Soviet Union and communism, we received a state of chaos that was definitely not the national rebirth of Russia. Over the last twenty-four years, I see only the national humiliation of Russia.  For example, Russia successfully carried out the Second Chechen War at first, but the politicians lost everything that the soldiers won. Thereby, Russia won the war in Chechnya, but lost the peace. In addition, Russia did not help Serbia and surrendered, gave in, and caved in on all fronts of Islam’s advance. Also, after the collapse of communism, Russia lost the territories conquered by the Russian tsars – native Russian lands. Therefore, there were all the reasons for pessimism, but Faith defeats pessimism.  Now, there is a process, fraught with dangers and difficulties, of the reunification of native Russian territories.

ST: Is it just the process of the reunification of Russian lands, because without a spiritual dimension, it will not be a very lasting one.

EC: I am absolutely sure of the presence of a spiritual dimension, because there are things which you cannot create artificially. People see the intrigues of Kremlin in Crimea’s return to Russia, but since I am in full contact with the Russians in Crimea, I see and know that it is not Kremlin’s doing, but a natural process.