Derzhavnost and ‘respect’

Aleksandr Dugin said in an interview with CNN last March that Trump’s America has a lot more in common with Putin’s Russia than most people think: 'The followers of Trump will understand much better what Russia is, who Putin is and the motivations of our politics.'

Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and U.S. President Donald Trump, pictured on Aug. 15, 2025, at the Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska. Maybe all this time we have been looking in the wrong place for an answer to the question: why does Trump always yield to Putin? Photograph courtesy of the White House/Daniel Torok

Opinion

BY GWYNNE DYER

December 22, 2025

LONDON, U.K.—The Russian word "derzhavnost" is usually translated as "great power status," but the real meaning is closer to the gangland concept of "respect." The word was beyond the reach of my feeble Russian vocabulary until I heard it about 20 times in 20 minutes while...

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