Russia: Daughter of 'Putin's Brain' Killed in Car Bombing, Ukraine Accused of Staging Attack

Daria Dugina modeled herself in the footsteps of her father as a pundit who mixed belligerent, imperialist ideas with jargon-laden political theory.

She argued on a state television talk show on Thursday, two days before her death in a car bombing outside Moscow, that the Western man lives in a dream - a dream that he got from his global hegemony. She gave a talk on mental maps and their significance in network-centric warfare on Friday, depicting Russian soldiers' crimes in Bucha, a Kyiv suburb, as a staged event.

Daughter of Putin Ally Killed in Moscow Car Blast

She also went to a nationalist celebration called Traditions with her father before she died on Saturday. Dugina, 29, posed with her father, Alexander Dugin, in a photo uploaded by Akim Apachev, a Russian nationalist rapper, wearing a military camouflage jacket knotted around her waist. On Sunday, Apachev posted on social media, "The enemy is at the gates." "Daria, rest in peace." You will be repaid! "

The British government sanctioned Darya Dugina last month, characterizing her as a regular and high-profile provider of disinformation about Ukraine and the Russian invasion of Ukraine on multiple internet sites. The US sanctioned her in March, designating her as the head editor of an English-language misinformation website controlled by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a Russian businessman known as "Putin's czar."

Darya Dugina's public comments, like her father's, provided an intellectual basis for Vladimir Putin's assertive foreign policy. In an interview with a Russian channel only hours before her death, she saw the Ukrainian conflict as an inevitable battle of civilizations, citing the views of Samuel Huntington and other intellectuals.

Darya Dugina was little recognized in Russia outside of ultranationalist and imperialist groups. However, widely read bloggers and commenters who knew her condemned her death as a tragedy and called for vengeance, according to New York Times.

At about 9.00 pm, an explosive device, allegedly installed in the Toyota Land Cruiser, went off on a public road and the automobile caught fire. According to the Russian Investigative Committee's press department, the incident occurred on Saturday in the town of Bolshiye Vyazemy, as reported by the Russian state news agency TASS.

Dugina's father is a Russian novelist and ideologue who is widely regarded as the architect or spiritual director of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. He is said to wield substantial power over Russian President Vladimir Putin and has been dubbed "Putin's Brain" by Foreign Affairs magazine.

The United States has sanctioned both Alexander Dugin and his daughter. The UK sanctioned Darya Dugina in July for being a regular and high-profile provider of disinformation regarding Ukraine and the Russian invasion of Ukraine on multiple internet platforms, as per CNN.

Russia Blames US, Ukraine For Terrorist Attack

There were no immediate suspects named. However, Denis Pushilin, president of the separatist Donetsk People's Republic, which is a focal point of Russia's battle in Ukraine, blamed it on terrorists of the Ukrainian authorities attempting to assassinate Alexander Dugin.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's adviser, Mykhailo Podolyak, rejected Ukrainian participation, saying on national television, "We are not a criminal state, unlike Russia, and certainly not a terrorist state."

Former Putin advisor Sergei Markov told Russian official news outlet RIA-Novosti that Alexander Dugin, not his daughter, was most likely the intended target, and that the most likely suspects are Ukrainian military intelligence and the Ukrainian Security Service, CBS News reported.