The daughter of a Russian nationalist ideologist who is often referred to as “Putin's brain” and who advocates Russia absorbing Ukraine was killed when her car exploded on the outskirts of Moscow, officials said Sunday.
The Investigative Committee branch for the Moscow region said the Saturday night blast was caused by a bomb planted in the Toyota Land Cruiser driven by Daria Dugina.
The 29-year-old was the daughter of Alexander Dugin, a prominent proponent of the “Russian world” concept ideology and a vehement supporter of Russia's sending of troops into Ukraine.
Dugina expressed similar views and had appeared as a commentator on the nationalist TV channel Tsargrad.
“Dasha, like her father, has always been at the forefront of confrontation with the West,” Tsargrad said on Sunday, using the familiar form of her name.
Alexander Dugin has long advocated the unification of Russian-speaking and other territories in a vast new Russian empire.
He wants that empire to include Ukraine where Russian forces are currently carrying out what Moscow calls a "special military operation" to demilitarize Ukraine.
The influence of Dugin, who is on a US sanctions list, over Russian President Vladimir Putin has been a subject for speculation, with some Russia watchers asserting that his sway is significant and others calling it minimal.
The Saturday night explosion took place as Dugina was returning from a cultural festival she had attended with her father. Some Russian media reports cited witnesses as saying the vehicle belonged to her father and that he had decided at the last minute to travel in another car.
No suspects were immediately identified. But Denis Pushilin, president of the separatist Donetsk People's Republic that is a focus of Russia's fighting in Ukraine, blamed it on “terrorists of the Ukrainian regime, trying to kill Alexander Dugin."
