A car bomb explodes near Moscow, killing the daughter of controversial ideologue Alexander Dugin. President Putin's close confidante may have been the target of the attack himself. The Kremlin blames "Ukrainian terrorists" for the crime, but Kyiv denies it.
The death of Darja Dugina, daughter of right-wing nationalist ideologue Alexander Dugin, has sparked horror in Russia - especially among the war propagandists around Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin. The vehicle with the 29-year-old at the wheel caught fire near Moscow after a car bomb exploded. And although the investigation into the alleged assassination attempt is ongoing and nothing has been proven, Russian state propaganda has hastened to blame the assassination attempt on "Ukrainian terrorists". The attack is said to have been aimed at Dugin himself, who is considered the "brain" or whisperer of Putin.
The United States, which has Dugin on its sanctions list, sees the ideologue as the brain behind the invasion of Ukraine ordered by Putin on February 24. As journalists in Kyiv reported after the explosion, the 60-year-old openly called for the killing of Ukrainians. And this sentence has also been handed down from his daughter Darja: "Ukrainians are brutes!" Dugin, who has written many books, is considered an anti-Western hate preacher and campaigner for the idea of a Slavic superpower.
Videos of the wrecked car on fire made the rounds on social media - and of a shaken Dugin, who rushed to the scene of the crime on Saturday and, as can be seen in photos, clapped his hands over his head. "The identity of the dead has been clarified - it is the journalist and political scientist Darya Dugina," said the statement from the state investigative committee. The investigators also published a video of the search for clues. Investigated because of a contract killing in different directions.
Dugina's colleague Margarita Simonyan, the editor-in-chief of the Russian state television channel RT, condemned the attack on the "young, smart, beautiful and incredibly talented woman". "Darya could have become one of those people who form a new national ideology for Russia." Simonyan also called for revenge. "The decision-making centers!" She wrote three times in a row on the news channel. In doing so, she recalled multiple threats by Moscow to target the command centers in Kyiv.
After the shelling on its border regions of Kursk, Belgorod and Bryansk, Russia has repeatedly threatened counterattacks, allegedly from the Ukrainian side. But after almost six months of war, there are many questions for Moscow's military leadership. Political commentators are increasingly surprised that the Kremlin has not reacted more sharply, especially after the most recent explosions on the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014.
The explosion of a car bomb near Moscow brings Russia's war very close again for the capitals, who largely ignore the bloodshed in the neighboring country. TV propagandist Vladimir Solovyov, who was sanctioned for his warmongering, is said to have narrowly escaped an attack in April. Kremlin chief Putin personally commented on this. "We know the names of the curators of the Western intelligence services, primarily a CIA group that works with the security organs of Ukraine and apparently gives such advice," the president said.
It is clear that the explosion does not change the situation in Russia. But observers say the car bomb's shockwave is at least shaking the comfortable world of propagandists, who previously thought they were safe. The killing of a public supporter of the war against Ukraine on Russian territory near Moscow is considered unprecedented.
Dugina was a "real patriot", mourned the prominent foreign politician and Russian negotiator in the conflict with Ukraine, Leonid Slutzki, on Telegram. "This barbaric murder of Darya - it is basically a terrorist attack on the ideology and the uniting of the Russian world." The guilty should be punished to the fullest extent of the law. Russia's domestic secret service FSB reports almost daily arrests of suspected terrorists who are said to have planned attacks on behalf of Ukraine. Again and again, the agents also published unverifiable photos and videos of self-made explosive devices and confessions of the suspects.
There have also been threats from Ukraine that partisans could cause problems for Russia with attacks for years to come. Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians from the war zone are now living in Russia - often with no alternative. The suspicion that "saboteurs," as Moscow calls them, are also entering the country via the escape routes is omnipresent. Only last week, according to a statement, did the FSB arrest several "saboteurs" after the massive explosion in Crimea. However, the attacks by the Ukrainian side have not been confirmed.
In Kyiv, Presidential Advisor Mykhailo Podoliak stressed that Ukraine had nothing to do with the attack. On television he said that this incident could also come in handy for Russia to justify mobilization for the war. In addition, many groups in Russia were now fighting among themselves for ideological positions in the domestic political arena. The expert Ruslan Trad spread the thesis on Twitter that the attack could also be an act of revenge by the FSB. "Especially since Dugin, rumor has it, is telling Putin that the FSB is to blame for the poor results in Ukraine."
In any case, many are convinced that Alexander Dugin himself was the target of the attack. Russian media reported that he and his daughter attended the patriotic festival "Tradition" on Saturday. Dugin was announced as a speaker there. His daughter, who was with him, parked the car in a special guest parking lot. The bomb could have been installed there. There was probably no video surveillance. According to the media, the father and daughter then wanted to leave together. But Dugin stayed.
