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Dugin is well to the right of Putin and the Russian Far Right has been very critical of how the war has been conducted.
Putin's and his inner circle's (e.g. Medvedev's), writings over the last couple of years reflect their strong belief about the ascendency of Russia, it's role in reshaping the established world order and doing that through challenging the US as the preeminent world power. Now that I'm reading more about Dugin, that is him in a nutshell. Dugin can afford to take a more radical viewpoint of how Russia should act on the world stage while Putin, in contrast, still has to deal with traditional ways of diplomacy as Russia's head of state dealing with his counterpart state leaders. That is especially true of the NATO alliance which I don't believe Putin has any misconceptions that a united NATO would force concessions on Russia in any conventional conflict in Europe between the Russian armed forces and NATO's armed forces.
I think a case can be made that Dugin could be Putin's front man as its pretty clear Putin has shed any pretense that he wants to operate within the context of the established world order that the western alliance has dominated since 1945 and the defeat of Nazi Germany. OTH, given the reality of the capabilities of NATO in any conflict that might flair in Europe, Putin's rational side directs him to tread more softly than his unbridled and ruthless fascist side would have him act.
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