Daughter of prominent Putin ally and Ukraine war supporter killed in car explosion outside Moscow
Darya Dugina, a journalist and political scientist whose prominent Ukraine-war-supporting father is known as “Putin’s Brain,” was killed Saturday in a car explosion that Russian authorities say was caused by an “explosive device” planted under her Toyota Land Cruiser.
The 29-year-old daughter of the nationalist philosopher and writer Alexander Dugin was en route home from a cultural festival they had attended together, The Associated Press reported, and he had decided at the last minute to travel in another vehicle.
In this handout photo taken from video released by Investigative Committee of Russia on Sunday, Aug. 21, 2022, investigators work on the site of explosion of a car driven by Daria Dugina outside Moscow. (Investigative Committee of Russia via AP/)
While no one claimed responsibility, suspicion is rampant that Dugin was the intended target. He proselytizes the “Russian world” concept, whose spiritual and political underpinning is bent on enforcing traditional values, restoring Russia’s power and unifying all ethnic Russians worldwide, AP explained. He has vehemently supported Russian President Vladimir Putin and his invasion of Ukraine.
Dugina has spread misinformation, stating for one thing that the well-documented Russian carnage wrought in the Kiev suburb of Bucha was staged and didn’t really happen.
The United States has imposed sanctions on both both Dugin and his daughter, and the UK sanctioned Dugina in July, calling her “a frequent and high-profile contributor of disinformation in relation to Ukraine and the Russian invasion of Ukraine on various online platform,” according to CNN.
Dugina, a conservative commentator, was driving near the village of Bolshie Vyazemy, on the outskirts of Moscow, on Saturday night when the car exploded with what forensics investigators said was the equivalent of 400 grams of TNT, Russian state news agency TASS reported Sunday.
Russia’s central Investigative Committee told TASS that Dugina’s murder “was premeditated and appears to be a contract hit.”
In this photo taken on Thursday, Aug. 11, 2016, Alexander Dugin, the neo-Eurasianist ideologue, sits in his TV studio in central Moscow, Russia. The daughter of this Russian nationalist ideologist who is often referred to as “Putin's brain”, was killed when her car exploded on the outskirts of Moscow, officials said Sunday, Aug. 21, 2022. (Francesca Ebel/)
A few pro-Russian sources implied that Ukraine might be responsible, which that government vehemently denied. Denis Pushilin, president of Ukraine’s separatist Donetsk People’s Republic, said the blast came from “terrorists of the Ukrainian regime, trying to kill Alexander Dugin,” according to AP.
Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova built on that Sunday, alluding on her Telegram channel to the possibility of a “policy of state terrorism implemented by the Kiev regime” if Ukrainian involvement was proven, TASS reported.
Ukraine denied the accusations.
“We are not a criminal state, unlike Russia, and definitely not a terrorist state,” said Mykhailo Podoliak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, according to AP.
Nonetheless, the incident inflamed some Russians, who on Sunday called for Ukrainian government buildings to be attacked, USA Today reported.
Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24 and has since killed thousands of civilians and sent hundreds of thousands of others fleeing.
With News Wire Services
