Darya Dugina, 29, daughter of Alexander Dugin, an ultranationalist Russian ideologue and Putin's ally, died in an explosion on the outskirts of Moscow. Russia's investigative committee, said that Dugina died after the explosion on a road outside Moscow. As per some unconfirmed speculations, her father Alexander Dugin, who is known as "Putin's brain" may have been the intended target in the explosion.
The Toyota Land Cruiser, which Dugina was driving, was ripped apart and blown to pieces by the explosion that occurred 12 miles (20 kms) west of the capital near the village Bolshive Vyazemy. The explosion occurred at 9.30pm local time (1930 BST), as per the Russian investigators.
The Russian state media quickly blamed Kyiv for the attack and termed it an assassination attempt, while also demanding that Kremlin respond to the explosion by targeting government officials in Kyiv. As per a piece in the Guardian, Margarita Simonyan, the editor-in-chief of the state-funded RT television station, reposted a call to bomb the headquarters of the Ukrainian SBU intelligence agency.
For those connecting the car bombing to the war, it is the first time that violence in Ukraine has alongside unleashed on the Russian capital, and affected Putin's ally on the outskirts of Moscow's most guarded districts.
The explosion occurred, shortly after Dugina was returning from The Tradition cultural festival, where her father had given a lecture. The report further quoted a friend as saying that the two were expected to leave together but instead got into different cars. Five minutes later, the explosion happened. As per the eye witnesses, the impact of the bombing was intense as debris got thrown all over the road and the car engulfed in flames.
So who is behind the attack?
Kyiv denies all the allegations! "Ukraine has absolutely nothing to do with this, because we are not a criminal state like Russia, or a terrorist one at that," said Mykhailo Podolyak, an advisor to President Volodymyr Zelensky, in a televised remark. Alexander Bastrykin, head of the federal Russian investigative authority, has called the attack, "premeditated and of a contract nature."
Andrey Krasnov, a friend of Dugin and head of the Russian Horizontal social movement, confirmed the reports, as per a piece of news in the agency Tass. He also said that the bomb may have been intended for his father. "This was the father's vehicle. Darya was driving another car but she too his car today, while Alexander went in a different way."
Dugin, a controversial figure in Russian politics, is known for his extreme right-wing ideology of Russia's place in the world. Also called a Russian fascist, some in the political circles believe, him to be behind the Russia's expansionist foreign policy. Both Dugin and his daughter have been sanctioned by the UK and US for their involvement in destabilising Ukraine. Darya Dugina followed in her father's footsteps and shared his ideology. Reportedy, a couple of days before her death, she voiced her views in a television news chat news that the, "Western man lives in a dream, the dream that he got from his global hedgemony."
