MOSCOW (Parliament Politics Magazine) – A car bomb on Moscow’s outskirts has killed the daughter of a Vladimir Putin’s ally and ultranationalist Russian ideologue.
Investigators say that at around 9.30 p.m. local time (19:30 BST), Darya Dugina, daughter of political commentator Alexander Dugin, died when the Toyota Land Cruiser she was driving was destroyed by a powerful explosion about 12 miles (20 km) west of the capital close to the village of Bolshiye Vyazemy.
Without providing any proof, prominent Russian hawks immediately accused Kyiv of carrying out the attack, branding it an attempt at assassination, and demanded that the Kremlin retaliate by targeting government leaders in Kyiv. Decision-making centres! Margarita Simonyan, the editor in chief of the state-funded RT television station, reposted a demand to attack the Ukrainian SBU intelligence agency’s headquarters.
The family of a Kremlin loyalist lives close to one of Moscow’s most affluent areas, and if the vehicle bombing is related to the war, it would be the first time since February that the violence inflicted on Ukraine has affected the Russian capital.
Kyiv vehemently refuted the accusations. Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to president Volodymyr Zelenskiy, made statements on television that stated that Ukraine had absolutely nothing to do with it since they were not a criminal state like Russia, or even a terrorist one at that.
Investigators say the explosion happened on Saturday night at around 9 p.m. local time (1900 BST) close to the town of Bolshiye Vyazemy outside Moscow, not long after Dugina had left the “Tradition” cultural festival at an estate where her father had given a lecture. The two were supposed to leave together but ended up getting into separate vehicles, a friend informed.
Five minutes later, while Dugina was driving, a bomb exploded, instantly killing her.
According to witnesses, as the car was consumed by flames before crashing into a fence, debris was flung all over the road.
The head of the investigation committee, the principal federal investigating body in Russia, Alexander Bastrykin, said that the blast was premeditated and of a contract nature.
The news outlet Tass reported that Dugina’s friend and the leader of the Russian Horizon social movement, Andrey Krasnov, confirmed the reports.
He claimed that her father might have been the target of the explosion.
It was her father’s car. Darya usually drove a different vehicle, but that day she borrowed his car while Alexander and took a different route. When he came back, the tragedy’s scene was where he was. As far as he could tell, Alexander or possibly the two of them were the target, Krasnov said.
Agentstvo, an independent Russian news agency, reported that the car was registered to Darya, not her father.
Social media videos seemed to depict him at the scene in distress.
Denis Pushilin, the head of the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic under Russian control, wrote in his Telegram that Dugina was killed and put the blame on the government of Ukraine.
“Vile villains! The terrorists of the Ukrainian regime, trying to eliminate Alexander Dugin, blew up his daughter … In a car. Blessed memory of Daria, she is a real Russian girl!”
Investigators announced that they had begun a murder investigation and would be conducting forensic tests to try to understand what transpired. When determining who was in charge, they claimed to be taking into account “all versions.”
Dugin is renowned for forming a radical right-wing perspective on Russia’s position in the world. He is a well-known conspiracy theorist who has been called a “Russian fascist.”
The US and the UK have imposed sanctions on Dugin and his daughter for their efforts to destabilise Ukraine. Dugina was referred to as a regular and high-profile source of disinformation in regard to Ukraine and the Russian invasion of Ukraine on different internet platforms by the UK Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation in its filing.
As the chief editor of the website United World International, which it alleged was run by Putin’s ally Yevgeny Prigozhin, the US Treasury imposed sanctions against her.
