Fox News Digital foreign affairs freelance consultant Rebekah Koffler unpacks the reality of any nuclear threats or conflicts from Russia and North Korea.

"Angel’s Golden Crown to our President. God save the Czar!" declared in a Telegram post by ultra-nationalist Russian philosopher Aleksandr Dugin in his congratulatory message to Russian President Vladimir Putin who turned 72 last week.

Dugin is the founder of neo-Eurasianism, a Russian Imperialist ideology, which underpins Putin’s anti-Western worldview. In his message, Dugin used an adapted version of an old Church Slavonic birthday greeting -- "Golden Crown to your Angel Savior and good health to you" -- to congratulate the Russian strongman. The right-wing ideologue, who is sometimes referred to as Putin’s brain, was wishing the golden crown that’s meant for the angel, for Putin himself.

Many in the West have been trying to get inside the Russian dictator’s mindset. Here are the top five things that probably figure prominently on Putin’s mind today.

It is not a coincidence that Dugin invoked Putin’s saintly status in his birthday greeting. Putin has been cultivating a spiritual fatherly persona since he came to power almost a quarter of a century ago. He wants to leave the legacy of a modern Czar Vladimir who resurrected Russia as a sovereign superpower in a "multipolar" world where its chief arch-rival, the United States, is no longer the dominant player.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, May 23, 2024. (YURI KOCHETKOV/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo)

When he assumed the reigns of Russia in 1999, Putin skillfully tapped into the psyche of the Russian people who were longing for spirituality, having lived for seventy years under Soviet Communist rule where religion was outlawed. Putin brought back the sense of imperial exceptionalism and a unique, divinely inspired Russian civilization, neither Eastern nor Western. This sentiment had been passed down through generations in Russia but significantly diminished in the aftermath of the USSR’s collapse and the loss of the Cold War.

Putin did this by reviving the Russian Orthodox Church, which was decimated during Soviet times, and by making Christianity the de facto official religion of the state. The Russian people, who suffered a crushing identity crisis after the demise of the USSR, embraced Putin’s call to reclaim Mother Russia’s rightful place in the world.

Many Russians fell in love with Putin, having voted for him multiple times. After all, he restored internal stability, reversed the economic crisis, and punished the "oligarchs," business-savvy individuals, who had legally seized government assets during Russia’s transition from central planning to a market-based economy.

Up until two years ago, when Russia invaded Ukraine, everything was going according to plan. Putin’s legacy was solid, from the perspective of an ordinary Russian. His presidency was secure virtually through 2036.

Today, Putin has a problem. If he were to die or........

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