image source,Reuters
Ms. Daria Dugina is a regular on Russian TV news
Russia has accused Ukrainian secret services of killing the daughter of an ally of President Vladimir Putin in a car bombing over the weekend.
Darya Dugina, 29, died Saturday (August 20) when an explosion occurred while driving a car near Moscow.
Dugina’s father, Alexander Dugin, a prominent Russian ultranationalist who is said to be close to Putin, may have been the intended target of the attack.
Ukrainian officials have denied any involvement in the bombing.
But Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Monday that the Dougina car bombing had been solved and that Ukraine was directly responsible.
A Ukrainian woman moved to Russia with her daughter in July — but she was in fact a Ukrainian secret service contractor, the FSB told national media.
The woman rented an apartment in the same building where Dugina lived for a month in preparation for the attack, the report said. During that time, she allegedly followed Dugina in Moscow in a “Mini Cooper” car, using three different license plates.
Russia’s Federal Security Service said the suspect fled to Estonia after the bombing.
Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, said the FSB’s description of the incident was “Russian propaganda” from a “fictional world“.
Russia’s FSB later released video that purportedly showed the suspect’s car entering Russia, as well as footage of her entering the building where Dugina was said to be and leaving Russia.
Alexander Dugin is accused of shaping President Putin’s worldview.
Dugina and her father were attending a festival near Moscow on Saturday night, where Dugin, the philosopher, gave a speech. They had originally planned to leave in the same car, but changed plans at the last minute, according to reports.
Investigators said explosives were placed under the Toyota Land Cruiser that Dugina was driving.
Video of the scene posted online appeared to show Dugin in shock as he watched emergency services deal with the burning vehicle.
Dugin’s friend Konstantin Malofeev released a statement on social media on his behalf, calling the killing of Dugin’s daughter Dugina “an act of terror by the Nazi regime in Ukraine.”
He was referring to the baseless but repeated claims by the Russian leadership of the existence of a powerful Nazi presence in Ukraine – one of the main reasons why Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24.
“My daughter Daria Dugina was brutally murdered in front of me,” the statement posted on Telegram read. “She was a beautiful Orthodox woman, patriot, war correspondent, television commentator and philosopher. “.
“We just need victory. My daughter gave her young life to the altar. So, please be victorious!”
image source,Reuters
Russian investigators have released this photo of the investigation team examining the explosion site.
In a statement issued by the Kremlin on Monday (August 22), President Putin personally paid tribute to Ms Dugina, calling her death a “despicable, cruel crime”. President Putin also signed an order posthumously awarding Dugina the Medal of Courage, praising her “for her dedication in carrying out her professional duties.”
Dugina is a political commentator for the International Eurasian Movement, led by her father, and writes regularly for pro-Kremlin media.
Speculation about the bombing
By Will Vernon, BBC correspondent in Moscow
On Monday morning, Russian state TV’s “Time Will Tell” program paid tribute to frequent guest Daria Dugina. “She died for the idea of ’the Russian world‘,” said host Olesya Losyeva.
A studio guest hinted that Russia would respond with “sacred wrath”. The show showed a photo of a mortar shell apparently belonging to pro-Russian forces in Ukraine, with the words “This is for Daria (revenge)!” scrawled on one side.
Several guests ranted on the show that if Dugina’s killing was to terrorize Russia, “it would have the opposite effect.”
Analyst Yekaterina Shulman said the outrage among pro-Kremlin commentators over the car bomb attack seemed dubious: the “reaction… was immediate. It looks like they’re waiting for something like this” things happen.”
Regardless of who was responsible, the killing “could be used to spark some public outrage within (Russia) to justify more aggressive state repression,” Schulman said.
Dugina, who has spoken out in support of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, was sanctioned by Britain in July for “frequent and high-profile publication of false information about Ukraine.”
Her father, Alexander Dugin, also known as “Putin’s brain,” has long expressed an anti-Western ultranationalist philosophy that has made him a prominent figure in Moscow, but Dugin himself has not held any political office.
The founder of Russia’s anti-Europe movement, Dugin told the BBC in 2014 that a war between Russia and Ukraine was “inevitable”. Dugin has also long called for the annexation of Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014.
Also that year, a video circulated online showing Dugin saying in Russian: “I think, kill, kill, kill (Ukrainians), there can be no other talk.” These comments angered many Ukrainians.