Daria Dugina, 30, political commentator and daughter of Oleksandr Dugin – considered “Putin’s ideologue” – died following the explosion of her car on the outskirts of Moscow. The incident took place around 9.45pm local time on Saturday near the village of Velyki Vyazomi, about 20 kilometers west of the Russian capital. According to preliminary information, the woman was driving a Toyota Land Cruiser Prado owned by her father and on which there were no other passengers. The Russian authorities have opened a criminal case “for murder”, in relation to the explosion of the car with the journalist and political scientist Daria Dugina on board in the Moscow region. The Russian agencies report this, citing the Investigative Committee, which hypothesizes the presence of “an explosive device” placed on the car. “A bomb would have exploded, after which the SUV caught fire,” reads the investigators’ report, reported by Ria Novosti.
After the explosion – some witnesses said – the car overturned and went off the road. The charred (and unrecognizable) body of the victim was recovered by rescuers who arrived on the spot. In some videos – released online – we see Dugin desperate, with his hands in his hair, a few meters from the burning car. At the moment, the most probable hypothesis is that it was an attack: according to some sources, Dugin himself – engaged in a conference on “Tradition and history” near Moscow in the evening (which was also attended by Daria Dugina as a guest) – he was supposed to be in the car with his daughter, a TV commentator, but in the end he decided to travel in another car. Oleksandr Dugin, advisor to several politicians, is a Russian philosopher known for his anti-Western, far-right and “neo-Eurasian” views.
In recent years he has been defined by the Western media as one of the inspirers of Vladimir Putin’s foreign policy, while the Russian press considers him a “marginal figure” for his views “considered too radical even by nationalists”. In 2014 – Russia Today reports – he was fired from Moscow State University after his appeal to “kill, kill, kill” Ukrainians.