Car explosion reports: daughter of Putin confidante Dugin killed

Russian media are reporting the death of Daria Dugina, daughter of ultra-nationalist philosopher Alexander Dugin.

Car explosion reports: daughter of Putin confidante Dugin killed

Russian media are reporting the death of Daria Dugina, daughter of ultra-nationalist philosopher Alexander Dugin. He is regarded as the forerunner of Kremlin chief Putin's policy. The young woman is said to have died in a car explosion. Shortly before, she is said to have attended a festival with her father.

The daughter of the ultra-nationalist Russian philosopher and publicist Alexander Dugin, who is considered the ideological mastermind of Kremlin boss Vladimir Putin, has reportedly died in her car's explosion. This is reported by several Russian media unanimously. The incident happened on the outskirts of Moscow.

According to the reports, Darina Dugina's Toyota Land Cruiser exploded while driving near the village of Bolshiye Vyazemy on Saturday evening. Videos are circulating on social media that are said to show debris from the vehicle on the road. The information, which largely comes from media close to the Kremlin such as the daily newspaper "Kommersant", cannot be confirmed at this time. The website mk.ru states that a gas cylinder in the car is said to have exploded. It will be determined whether it was a bomb.

However, the independent news portal Meduza also reports on Dugina's death. Accordingly, she was on her way back from a literature and music festival that she attended with her father. The violinist Peter Lundstrem, who is also said to have been there, is quoted on the telegram channel of the online medium. According to him, Alexander Dugin was actually driving the car that exploded shortly afterwards, but then got into another one.

According to Meduza, there is still no official statement from the responsible authorities. Rescue workers are quoted in other Russian media as saying that only one person was in the affected vehicle. She died in the accident after the detonation. According to state news agency Tass, a friend of Dugina's confirmed the reports. It is therefore the head of the "Russian Horizon" movement, Andrei Krasnov. He said the bomb was meant for Alexander Dugin.

The separatist leader and head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic Denis Puschilin wrote on Telegram that Daria Dugina had been killed. He blamed the Ukrainian government for the alleged attack.

Alexander Dugin is considered a close confidante of the Russian President and is also known as "Putin's Brain". The 60-year-old represents anti-Western and anti-liberal positions. In the 1990s he was co-chairman of Russia's National Bolshevik Party, which is now banned. Until 2014 he taught at the Sociological Faculty of Lomonosov Moscow State University. He now appears as a commentator on Russian television and, according to the Washington Post, is the "author of Putin's Ukraine strategy." According to Meduza, his daughter Daria Dugina was born in 1992.