Who is Darya Dugina? Daughter of Putin's ally Alexander Dugin killed in Moscow car blast

The daughter of a pro-Kremlin ideologue, Alexander Dugin, dubbed as “Putin’s brain” was killed in a car explosion on Saturday, August 20. According to Russian media reports, the incident occurred on Saturday evening on the outskirts of the national capital, Moscow, when the far-right ideologue’s daughter, Darya Dugina, was driving a car owned by Dugin.

In a Telegram post, news media outlet, Baza, said she was immediately killed and a loud sound was heard, following the explosion. The 29-year-old Dugina and her father had attended a music and literature festival called "Tradition" and were returning back when the incident happened. The media report claimed the duo was about to travel together in a car but the ill-fated father changed the plan at the last moment and went separately.

After 10 minutes of travel, Dugina's vehicle exploded, resulting in her killing. Her father, who was driving just behind her car, witnessed the whole episode. Videos, which are now viral on social media platforms, show a distraught father holding his hands on his head incredulously as the wreckage burns behind him. Pro-Kremlin media and experts have claimed that the bomb planted in the SUV was meant for Dugin, who ran an online campaign urging the Russian government to take "brutal revenge". Some media houses even claimed that Ukraine was behind the attack as Dugin was considered the "mastermind" behind the Ukraine war.

"Yes, a very adverse event; I knew Darya personally. The exploded car belongs to Alexander Dugin. This was the father’s vehicle. Darya was driving another car but she took his car today, while Alexander went in a different way. When he returned, he was at the site of the tragedy. As far as I understand, Alexander or probably they together were the target," Andrey Krasnov, head of the Russian social movement, told TASS.

Who are Alexander Dugin and his daughter Darya Dugina?

Notably, Dugin, a Russian political philosopher, analyst, and strategist known for views widely characterised as "fascist", is considered the driving force behind Russian President Vladimir Putin's aggression against Ukraine. On the other hand, his daughter Darya was dubbed as "outspoken" in her support of the war against Ukraine.

Earlier in April, when Ukraine presented evidence related to the brutal killings of civilians in Bucha and Irpin, Durgina, in an interview with a Russian news channel, contested that the US was behind the attack. Subsequently, the Biden administration sanctioned her, underscoring her role in influencing the Russian operation against Kyiv. 

Image: AP