The daughter of influential, ultra-nationalist philosopher Alexander Dugin, Darya Dugina was killed by a car bomb on the outskirts of Moscow on Sunday. Russian authorities said they had opened a murder investigation.
The Russian authorities said they believed someone planned and ordered the car explosion that killed Darya Dugina, based on evidence already collected from the blast.
“Taking into account the data already obtained, the investigation believes that the crime was pre-planned and was of an ordered nature,” the investigative committee said in a statement Sunday.
Dugina died at the scene after “an explosive device, presumably installed in the Toyota Land Cruiser, went off on a public road and the car caught fire” at around 9.00 p.m. local time on Saturday, near the village of Bolshiye Vyazemy, according to the press service of the Russian Investigative Committee, as reported by the Russian state news agency TASS.
Dugina’s father is a Russian author and ideologue, credited with being the architect or “spiritual guide” to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He is purported to have significant influence over Russian President Vladimir Putin and was described as “Putin’s Brain” by Foreign Affairs magazine.
Both Dugin and his daughter have been sanctioned by the United States.
The United Kingdom sanctioned Dugina in July for being “a frequent and high-profile contributor of disinformation in relation to Ukraine and the Russian invasion of Ukraine on various online platforms,” it wrote.
A friend of Dugina told TASS that he believed Dugina’s father was the true target of the blast — or possibly both of them — as the car belonged to Alexander.
Videos that are shared online purportedly show Alexander Dugin as the explosion occurs.
Allegedly Dugin at the location where his daughter was assassinated. pic.twitter.com/2dHo6T4I27
— Dmitri (@wartranslated) August 20, 2022
Wow, Alexander Dugin’s daughter Darya has reportedly been killed in a car explosion. Her Land Cruiser Prado exploded near the village of Bolshiye Vyazyomy. According to preliminary reports, she died on the spot. pic.twitter.com/2dKOMtveIv
— Tadeusz Giczan (@TadeuszGiczan) August 20, 2022
