Alexander Dugin's Daughter Assassinated in Car Bombing in Moscow

Wow, Alexander Dugin's daughter Darya has reportedly been killed in a car explosion. Her Land Cruiser Prado exploded near the village of Bolshiye Vyazyomy. According to preliminary reports, she died on the spot. pic.twitter.com/2dKOMtveIv

— Tadeusz Giczan (@TadeuszGiczan) August 20, 2022

Alexander Dugin at the site near Moscow where his daughter Darya was killed tonight in a car bombing.pic.twitter.com/4lTYDMTR9s

— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) August 20, 2022

Today, the Head of the Presidential Administration in Ukraine, Andrey Yermak, said that, "Our task is to make sure that not only the current generation of Russians, but their children and grandchildren will pay". Eight hours later, Alexander Dugin's daughter Darya was killed. pic.twitter.com/tSNhsxTR7A

— Russians With Attitude (@RWApodcast) August 20, 2022

This is, of course, just the beginning. We were just recording an episode a few days ago & talked about the 2000s terror wave in Russia - they'll try to do the same. Bombs on public transport, taking hostages, etc. Luckily, Russia has a lot of experience in counter-terrorism

— Russians With Attitude (@RWApodcast) August 20, 2022

The daughter of a close ally of Russia's President Vladimir Putin has been killed in a suspected car bomb.

Darya Dugina died after an explosion on a road outside Moscow, Russia's investigative committee said.

It is thought her father, the Russian philosopher Alexander Dugin who is known as "Putin's brain," may have been the intended target of the attack.

Mr Dugin is a prominent ultra-nationalist ideologue who is believed to be close to the Russian president.

Alexander Dugin and his daughter had been at a festival at an estate near Moscow, where the philosopher gave a lecture.

The "Tradition" festival describes itself as a family event for art lovers which takes place at the Zakharovo estate where Russian poet Alexander Pushkin once stayed.

The pair were due to travel back from the event on Saturday evening in the same car before Mr Dugin reportedly made a decision at the last minute to travel separately from his daughter.

Western media has painted Dugin as a driving force behind President Vladimir Putin’s foreign policy over the past decade. In recent months, CBS dubbed him “the far-right theorist behind Putin’s plan,” while the Washington Post called him a “far-right mystical writer who helped shape Putin’s view of Russia.”

In Russia, the supposed shadowy puppet master is largely considered to be a marginal figure. While he has served as an adviser to several politicians, Dugin never enjoyed official endorsement from the Kremlin. In 2014, he was fired from his position at Moscow State University, after critics interpreted his call to “kill, kill, kill” those behind massacres in Ukraine, such as the Odessa tragedy, as a call for a genocide against Ukrainian people.

The US think tank RAND Corporation wrote in 2017 that despite Western media reports of Dugin’s alleged “ties and connections” to the Russian leadership, he is “perhaps best thought of as an extremist provocateur with some limited and peripheral impact than as an influential analyst with a direct impact on policy.”