What we know about the death of Daria Dugin, daughter of a Russian ideologue

• The car of ideologue Alexander Dugin, pro-war in Ukraine, exploded last Saturday, while his daughter was inside.

• Daria Douguina, journalist and political scientist, also a supporter of the conflict, died on the spot at the age of 30.

• While Moscow accuses kyiv of this explosion, which Ukraine denies, Vladimir Putin condemned a "despicable, cruel" crime.

She was the daughter of a Russian ideologue close to the Kremlin, fervent supporter of the Russian military operation in Ukraine, Alexander Dougin.

Daria Duguina was killed Saturday evening in the explosion of her car in the Moscow region, the Russian Investigative Committee said on Sunday.

A "despicable, cruel" crime which "prematurely ended the life of Daria Duguina, a brilliant and talented person with a truly Russian heart", according to Vladimir Putin.

According to relatives of the family, quoted by Russian press agencies, it was her father, the ultra-nationalist intellectual and writer, 60, who was targeted by the explosion, Daria having borrowed his car for this trip.

explosive device

Daria Douguina, a journalist and political scientist, who also showed open support for the Russian offensive in Ukraine, was driving a Toyota Land Cruiser when it exploded and caught fire on a highway near the village of Bolchiye Viaziomy, about forty kilometers from Moscow, according to the press release.

The young woman, born in 1992, "was killed at the scene," he said.

According to investigators, an explosive device was placed in the vehicle and everything suggests that "the crime was planned in advance and ordered", underlines the press release.

An investigation for "homicide" has been opened, adds the Committee, responsible for the main criminal investigations in the country.

According to the Russian special services, the car driven by Daria Dugina was trapped by a woman of Ukrainian nationality born in 1979, identified by the Russian security services (FSB) as Natalia Vovk, who arrived in Russia in July with her minor daughter, born in 2010. Still according to the FSB, this person had notably rented an apartment in the building where Douguina lived and she had gone to a cultural festival on Saturday where the journalist and political scientist was also present.

This Ukrainian woman then fled to Estonia with her daughter.

“eurasist” doctrine

Promoter of the “eurasist” doctrine, a sort of alliance between Europe and Asia under Russian leadership, Alexandre Douguine, who influences part of the French far right, has been targeted since 2014 by EU sanctions. taken in the wake of the annexation of the Ukrainian Crimean peninsula by Russia.

In recent years, Ukraine has banned several of his works, including

and

.

Alexander Dougin, nicknamed by some media "Putin's brain", is sometimes presented as being close to the Russian president.

But many observers relativize his supposed influence in the Kremlin.

Nicolas Tenzer, specialist in strategic and international issues and teacher at Sciences Po, explains for example that the ideologue “was not close to Putin, nor a member of his first circle” and that “the Kremlin kept him at a distance”.

I read many (opposing) comments about the supposed or real influence of Alexander #Dugin.

I made some myself on several TV and radio stations today.

He was certainly not Putin's Rasputin, nor his director of conscience.

But was he without influence?

Let's try to find out.

1/14

⬇️ pic.twitter.com/OMkaSqlA9q

— Nicolas Tenzer (@NTenzer) August 21, 2022

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On the other hand, “the theses of Dugin constitute the ideological substrate - but not exclusively - of the radical theses of Putin.

They partly feed its most extreme propagandists, ”explains the specialist on social networks.

For her part, Daria Douguina had been targeted by British sanctions since July, London accusing her of disseminating “misinformation about Ukraine” online.

Moscow accuses kyiv

The leader of the Donetsk People's Republic (DNR), self-proclaimed pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, Denis Pushilin, on Sunday accused Ukrainian forces of being behind the assassination of Daria Dugina.

“Ukrainian regime terrorists tried to liquidate Alexander Dugin, but blew up his daughter,” Denis Pushilin said on Telegram.

“If the Ukrainian track is confirmed (…) and it must be verified by the competent authorities, it will be the policy of state terrorism put in place by the kyiv regime”, reacted on Telegram the spokesperson. of Russian diplomacy Maria Zakharova.

Our file on the conflict

The Russian security services (FSB) also accused Ukrainian "special services" on Monday of having killed the daughter of a well-known ideologue close to the Kremlin, who died in the explosion of her car near Moscow, news agencies reported. Russian press.

For his part, an adviser to the Ukrainian presidency, Mikhaïlo Podoliak, denied any Ukrainian involvement in this attack.

"Ukraine undoubtedly had nothing to do with yesterday's explosion, because we are not a criminal state," he said in a televised appearance.

Either way, this death could lead to an escalation of the conflict.

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