Daughter of Putin's 'spiritual guide' killed in car bomb : Russian media

A car bomb killed the daughter of influential, ultra-nationalist philosopher Alexander Dugin on the outskirts of Moscow on Sunday, Russian authorities said. According to the Russian Investigative Committee, someone ordered and planned the explosion that killed Darya Dugina. In a statement issued Sunday, the investigative committee said the crime had been pre-planned and was of an ordered nature based on the data already obtained.

"An explosive device, presumably installed in Dugina's Toyota Land Cruiser, went off on a public road and the car caught fire at approximately 9.00 p.m. in Bolshiye Vyazemy on Saturday, according to the Russian Investigative Committee's press service. Dugan's father was a Russian author and ideologue, who is credited with being the architect or "spiritual guide" of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Vladimir Putin is said to have significant influence over him, and he has been referred to as "Putin's Brain".

The United States has sanctioned both Dugin and his daughter. As a frequent and high-profile contributor of disinformation about Ukraine and the Russian invasion of Ukraine on various online platforms, Dugina was sanctioned in July by the United Kingdom. The explosion was captured on video, showing a vehicle on fire at the side of the road and smashed car parts scattered nearby. An unverified video appears to show Dugin at the scene.

As the car belonged to Alexander Dugina, a friend of Dugina told TASS that he believed his father, or possibly both, was the true target of the blast."It was her father's car," Krasnov told TASS. The Russky Gorizont social movement and Andrei Krasnov, a personal acquaintance of Dugina's family, said Dasha (Darya) drove his car today, and Alexander went separately.

According to a Russian foreign ministry official, Ukrainian state structures were responsible for the explosion, a claim denied by Ukrainian authorities. After Kyiv's state terrorism policy is confirmed, Russian Foreign Minister spokeswoman Maria Zakharova suggested we discuss it on Telegram. We have accumulated a lot of facts over the From political calls for violence to Ukrainian state structures' leadership and participation in crimes over the past year," she said.

Ukraine denied involvement in Sunday's car explosion. In a Ukrainian TV interview, Mykhailo Podoliak, adviser to the Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, said "Ukraine is definitely not involved in this because we are not a criminal state, as the Russian Federation is, nor are we a terrorist state."

Krasnov told TASS that Dugina's car caught fire immediately after turning onto the Mozhaiskoye highway near Bolshiye Vyazemi."Her car was completely engulfed by flames. She lost control due to her speed and flew across the road," Krasnov said, according to TASS. The scene is being examined by forensic experts, investigators, and explosive engineering experts. She graduated from Moscow State University with a degree in philosophy in 1992, according to TASS.

A sanction against Dugina was imposed by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the US Department of the Treasury in March 2022. Recently, she told Russian news channel 1RNK that the atrocities committed during the Russian occupation of Bucha were propaganda from the American government. She chose the word because it sounded similar to the word "butcher," which Biden called Putin on March 29 a "butcher."

In April, CNN visited the Bucha mass graves after Russian forces had withdrawn, revealing the horrors of their occupation. Russian war crimes were investigated after images of bodies strewn across Bucha streets sparked international condemnation. Russian soldiers are implicated in many of the atrocities according to multiple eyewitnesses and footage. The United States sanctioned her father in 2015 for his involvement in actions or policies that threaten peace, security, stability, or Ukraine's sovereignty or territorial integrity.

According to the US Treasury department, Alexander Dugin is a leader of the Eurasian Youth Union, which actively recruits military and combat veterans to fight on behalf of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic. It has also stated that the group has a covert presence in Ukraine. An interview with CNN in 2017 revealed many similarities between Dugin's ideas and those of Donald Trump. According to him, Trump's inauguration speech sounded like it was written by him.

According to Trump, Putin had provided inspiration, "a kind of... an example to challenge the status quo, to challenge conventional wisdom, to challenge all this totalitarian principle of globalists and ultra-liberals."