{"id":110658,"date":"2016-12-23T09:18:48","date_gmt":"2016-12-23T17:18:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=110658"},"modified":"2016-12-23T09:22:52","modified_gmt":"2016-12-23T17:22:52","slug":"meet-the-moscow-mouthpiece-married-to-a-racist-alt-right-boss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=110658","title":{"rendered":"‘Meet the Moscow Mouthpiece Married to a Racist Alt-Right Boss’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Comment<\/a>: “I noticed they managed to shoe-horn in a photo of Richard Spencer Sieg Heiling. Except that he wasn\u2019t; he was waving at jeering protesters in the back of the room. Not that I expected The Daily Beast to be honest.”<\/p>\n

The Daily Beast<\/a>: <\/p>\n

Nina Kouprianova is not a member of the racist alt-right. At least, that\u2019s what she\u2019ll say when you ask her. \u201cI am not a member of any movement,\u201d Kouprianova, who was born in the Soviet Union, recently told The Daily Beast via email. She added that she was \u201csympathetic\u201d toward movements that \u201cchallenge the dominant and globally oriented post-Liberal ideology,\u201d but white nationalism\u2014that fracturing of the U.S., resulting in a white ethno-state that would salve the wounds of American racists\u2014is not for her.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Still, the track record, both personally and professionally, of Kouprianova\u2014who also goes by the nom de plume <\/i>Nina Byzantina\u2014casts a pall over her denials. This is, after all, a woman who elected to marry Richard Spencer, the longtime lodestar of American white nationalism<\/a> and progenitor of the term \u201calt-right<\/a>.\u201d While the two are currently separated\u2014as Spencer told The<\/i> Washington Post<\/i>, his recent work has taken a \u201ctoll<\/a>\u201d on their relationship\u2014Kouprianova hasn\u2019t publicly distanced herself from the views of her husband, a man who has kept neo-Nazis enthralled with his views<\/a> and who has expressed continued admiration for Vladimir Putin<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

In fact, Kouprianova, who has a young daughter with Spencer, wrote a letter this week<\/a> to the Flathead Beacon<\/i>, one of their local papers in Montana. In it, Kouprianova compares the \u201cwitch hunts\u201d surrounding her husband to Stalinist purges: \u201cThreats and intimidation, which my current extended family continues to experience in Whitefish [Montana], remind me of the way my grandfather was forced to live [in the Soviet Union],\u201d Kouprianova wrote. And to be fair, following Spencer\u2019s rise to prominence, threats\u2014veiled and otherwise\u2014have risen alongside<\/a>…<\/p>\n

Interestingly, Kouprianova\u2019s presence in Spencer\u2019s life has caused notable schisms within the white-nationalist community in the U.S. While ethnic Russians are, broadly, considered part of the broader \u201cEuropean identity\u201d pushed by American white nationalists, Spencer told Mother Jones <\/i>that his wife is part Georgian<\/a>. For some members of Spencer\u2019s racist community, that makes something other than white. For instance, prominent white nationalist Greg Johnson, who doesn\u2019t view Georgia<\/a> as part of Europe, wrote<\/a> in 2014 that \u201cRichard is basically being dominated by Nina Nogoodnik, his Russian-Georgian wife.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnson, as it is, says Kouprianova is not a white nationalist. And yes, Kouprianova may not share outright her husband\u2019s views on ethnic cleansing<\/a>. But given Kouprianova\u2019s work with Dugin, her writings for America\u2019s most prominent white nationalist journal runs counter to those claims\u2014and helps build one more bridge in the ongoing relationship<\/a> between Russia and America\u2019s white nationalists.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Comment: “I noticed they managed to shoe-horn in a photo of Richard Spencer Sieg Heiling. Except that he wasn\u2019t; he was waving at jeering protesters in the back of the room. Not that I expected The Daily Beast to be … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42720,29673,13775],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-110658","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alt-right","category-richard-spencer","category-russia"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t