Moscow: The daughter of a far-right Russian ideologue dubbed "Putin's brain" for allegedly influencing the Russian president's fascist views was reportedly killed in a car bombing outside of Moscow late on Saturday. The news organisations Baza and 112, which reported that Darya Dugina, the daughter of Alexander Dugin, was instantly killed in the explosion, widely disseminated pictures of the blast on Telegram. Law enforcement sources cited by Russia's TASS news agency confirmed that a Toyota Land Cruiser Prado had blown up, but they did not confirm the driver's identity, only stating that the victim was a female. However, a man who TASS identified as a friend of Dugina confirmed that she had passed away.
According to the Russian news source Baza, Dugina, 30, was travelling back home from the "Tradition" literature and music festival when the explosion took place. She reportedly only had the keys to the car for 10 minutes before the explosion.
рашист дугин приехал на место взрыва автомобиля, в котором находилась его дочь
— DanaElena. ???????????????????????????????????????? (@danielapruna2) August 20, 2022
Детали: как пишут российские паблики, дарья дугина возвращалась с семейного фестиваля «Традиция» в усадьбе захарово. дугин планировал ехать вместе с дочерью, но в последний момент сел в другую машину. pic.twitter.com/4wnJ2BmbTz
According to Russian violinist Pyotr Lundstrem, who was cited by the publication, Alexander Dugin was originally supposed to be in the car his daughter was driving but ended up getting into another one at the last minute.
According to reports, Dugin watched as his daughter's car exploded while closely following behind her. Dugin appeared to be inconsolable in the photos shared by Baza, holding his head in both of his hands as he stood in front of the burning debris.
Angrily blaming "terrorists of the Ukrainian regime," Donetsk's Russian-proxy ruler Denis Pushilin wrote on Telegram that they had been "trying to liquidate Alexander Dugin" but "blew up his daughter."
In remembrance of Darya, Pushilin wrote, "She is a true Russian girl."
Similar to how they blamed Ukraine for the explosion, pro-Kremlin Telegram channels and social media pages urged Russians to "avenge" Dugina's passing.
According to reports, investigators believe that the explosion may have been a targeted attack intended for Alexander Dugin, a philosopher widely regarded as the principal architect of Vladimir Putin's ideology of a "Russian World" and the inspiration behind his aggression against Ukraine.
Darya Dugina had been vocal in her endorsement of Russia's conflict with Ukraine. In an interview, Dugina claimed that the killing of civilians had been staged as proof of Russian war crimes in the Bucha neighbourhood of Kyiv began to mount in April. Dugina bizarrely claimed that the U.S. had chosen the location because the name of the city sounds like "butcher" in English. In connection with her participation in Project Lakhta, a Kremlin-run influence operation, the U.S. government also imposed sanctions on her in March.
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