News
The car of 29-year-old Daria Dugina, daughter of ultra-nationalist philosopher Alexander Dugin, who is believed to be the author of the “Russian world” ideology and Putin’s ally, exploded in Moscow Region. Dugina, who was in the driver's seat, died on the spot. Alexander Dugin's acquaintances insist that the philosopher planned to ride with her but changed his mind at the very last moment and left in a different car. Russia's Investigative Committee currently treats her death as a “murder committed by a generally dangerous method”.
The agency has confirmed that an explosive device was installed in her car, a Land Cruiser Prado, and went off as she was driving in the vicinity of Bolshiye Vyazemy along Mozhayskoye Highway. The car exploded after some ten minutes on the road, Baza writes.
After the blast, the car crashed into the road fence and burned down. Its remains were scattered all across the highway. Alexander Dugin, who was riding in the next car, was among the first on the spot of his daughter’s death.
“An explosive device is presumed to have gone off in a Toyota Land Cruiser as it was driving along the highway in Odintsovo District in the vicinity of Bolshiye Vyazemy around 21:00 on August 20. The blast was followed by a fire. The girl who was driving the vehicle died on the spot. She has been identified as journalist and political scientist Daria Dugina,” the Investigative Committee states in its official report.
“It has been established that the explosive device had been planted under the car on the driver's side. The driver, Daria Dugina, was killed on the spot. <...> Considering the available data, the investigation believes that the crime had been planned in advance and was essentially a contract killing,” the Investigative Committee announced later.
Shaken by his daughter's death, Alexander Dugin was hospitalized, reports political scientist Sergei Markov.
Alexander Dugin and his daughter were returning from Tradition, a family festival in the estate of Zakharovo outside Moscow. The 112 Telegram channel insists that the bomb was planted in Dugina’s car at the parking lot of the estate.
Tradition is a patriotic festival supported by the Presidential foundation of Cultural Initiatives, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Moscow Region, and the City Administration of Odintsovo. Dugin participated in the festival with a lecture titled “Tradition and History”. According to BBС correspondent Anastasia Lotareva, Daria Dugina worked as her father's press secretary and “managed his affairs”.
The investigators are confiscating all recordings from the dashboard cameras of the vehicles that were parked alongside Daria’s. The leading version at the moment is the attempted assassination of Alexander Dugin himself.
Head of the so-called DPR Denis Pushilin has been quick to blame Ukraine for the murder. “In an attempt to eliminate Alexander Dugin, the Ukrainian regime’s terrorists blew up his daughter,” he claimed.
However, as Mykhailo Podolyak, Adviser to the Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, emphasized, Ukraine did not have a hand in Dugina’s death. “I insist that Ukraine had absolutely nothing to do with this because, unlike the Russian Federation, we are not a criminal state and much less a terrorist state,” said Podolyak.
Daria Dugina was born in 1992. She graduated from the Faculty of Philosophy of Moscow State University and wrote propaganda-ridden columns for RT and Tsargrad under the pen name Daria Platonova. She also co-authored “Kniga Z” [“Book Z”], an upcoming book about the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The governments of the US and UK have included her in the sanctions lists for spreading misinformation. Dugina said she was proud to be there.
Alexander Dugin is a propagandist philosopher and political scientist, co-author of the “Russian world” ideology, and neo-Eurasianist. He advocates the idea of establishing a superpower by integrating Russia with former Soviet republics. He is also an ardent proponent of the war in Ukraine and its occupation. Dugin has been on the EU sanctions list since 2014 for his involvement in the annexation of Crimea and on the Canadian and US sanctions lists since 2015.