From the first edition Mikhail Leontyev held the position of editor-in-chief and from the very start the publication has been headquartered in Moscow because the Ukrainian government banned Leontyev from visiting the country for five years, referring to his "insulting statements" towards Ukraine.
In the latest issue, he gave space to Dugin; since the Georgian conflict, four prominent mainstream analysts have written articles promoting the notion of Russia as an empire.
This coloured high-circulation journal is edited by Mikhail Leontev, a well-known Russian anti-Western propagandist, former “persona non grata” in Ukraine, founding member of neo-fascist Alexander Dugin’s “Eurasia” Movement, etc.
One could argue though that the primitiveness of “Der Spiegel – Profil’s” anti-Ukrainianism has the unintended effect of supporting pro-NATO forces in Ukraine (reminding the ambivalent repercussions of transmissions in Ukraine of the dubious television reports from Kyiv by Russian TV “journalists”).
Yet, this would be a strange way, indeed, for German journalists to contribute to further improvement of relations between Ukraine and the West.