Daria Duguine, a Russian journalist, was killed in her car explosion on the outskirts of Moscow on Saturday. It was the Russian news agency TASS that broke the news on Sunday. According to the Russian Investigative Committee, which claims to have found an explosive device, “the crime was planned and ordered in advance.”
· What happened?
On Saturday, around 9:00 p.m. local time (8:00 p.m. in Paris), Daria Douguine leaves the “Traditsya” festival, with the car of her father, Alexandre Douguine, who accompanied her. This influential ideologue was supposed to go up with her, but changed his mind at the last moment. She takes another vehicle and another route to return.
His daughter, left alone, drives about forty kilometers on the highway south-west of Moscow. Then, at the level of the small town of Bolchïe Viaziomy, her vehicle exploded and caught fire. According to the Russian authorities, it is due to an explosive placed under the car, on the driver’s side. Daria Dugin succumbed to her injuries at the scene.
· Who are Daria and Alexander Dugin?
Born in 1992, Daria Douguine worked as editor-in-chief of the magazine united world international. There she defended positions that earned her British sanctions in July, and the UK accused her of spreading “disinformation about Ukraine.”
He shared nationalist and anti-Ukrainian political beliefs with his father.
“She talked a lot. [à la télévision] on the subject of Ukraine. He fully supported this war and worked for Tsargrad, a TV channel owned by Russian oligarchs”, explains Denis Strelkov, a Russian journalist for RFI.
Alexandre Douguine, the victim’s father, is the author of several geopolitical essays. Presented as “Putin’s Rasputin” by the Western media, his theories find an echo in Russia’s recent policies: ultra-nationalism, opposition to the West or Eurasian projects.
• A premeditated act that probably targeted “the brains of Russian ideology”
The Russian authorities have opened an investigation, and are already leaning towards a premeditated act. Eugène Berg, former ambassador and expert from Ukraine, exposes several hypotheses on BFMTV. Ukraine, a political and military adversary, may have sponsored the attack on Alexander Dougin. There are three other possibilities.
“They could be mafia circles, but it’s still unlikely,” explains Eugène Berg. “It may be an internal matter of the Russian secret services, it is possible but hardly conceivable. Finally, it may be, in Russia, people who oppose the war. Since they cannot touch those responsible, who are well protected, they want to touch the brain of the ideology [russe]”.
Alexander Dugin’s influence is particularly felt in Russia’s positions on Ukraine. Already in 2008, the philosopher had called for the annexation of Ukraine by Russia, as indicated in 2014 by the BBC. An idea that he reaffirmed several times.
Proximity to pro-Russian separatist regimes, support for the war, ideological position: these positions could have made him the target of the “explosive device” mentioned by the Russian authorities.
Pro-Russian leader points finger at Kyiv, Russia ‘controls’
On Telegram, the pro-Russian separatist leader of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR), Denis Pushilin, believes that “terrorists from the Ukrainian regime tried to liquidate Alexander Dugin, but they blew up his daughter.”
“If the Ukrainian track is confirmed […]and it must be verified by the competent authorities, it will be the State terrorism policy implemented by the Kyiv regime, ”says the spokeswoman for Russian diplomacy, Maria Zakharova, on Telegram.
Kyiv denies any involvement
The Ukrainian presidency denies any role in the death of Daria Dugin. “Ukraine certainly had nothing to do with yesterday’s explosion [smaedi soir, NDLR]because we are not a criminal state,” said Mikhaïlo Podoliak, adviser to the Ukrainian presidency, during a televised intervention.
Source: BFM TV
