Putin Ally May Have Been the Target of Bomb Attack that Killed His Daughter

The daughter of Russian philosopher Alexander Dugin, who is known as “Putin’s brain,” was killed in a bomb attack near Moscow on Saturday evening.

According to state media, Darya Dugina died after her car exploded in flames while she was driving home.

It is thought that her father, Alexander Dugin, may have been the intended target of the attack. Dugin is a prominent ultra-nationalist ideologue who is believed to be close to the Russian President.

According to Russian media outlet 112, the pair were due to travel back from an event on Saturday evening in the same car before Dugin made the decision to travel separately from his daughter at the last minute.

Footage posted on Telegram appears to show Dugin watching in shock as emergency services arrive at the scene of the burning wreck of a vehicle.

🇷🇺| ÚLTIMA HORA: Medios rusos informan que la hija de Aleksandr Dugin (uno de los maestros de Putin), Darya Dugina, murió en un atentado con coche bomba hoy en Moscú. No está claro si se trató de un intento de asesinato dirigido a su padre. pic.twitter.com/GIu8acfVpU

— Alerta Mundial (@AIertaMundiaI) August 20, 2022

Dugin has been dubbed ‘Putin’s Rasputin’

Despite not holding an official position in government, Dugina’s father is a close ally of the Russian President and has even been branded “Putin’s Rasputin”.

The philosopher’s daughter, Darya Dugina, was herself a prominent journalist who vocally supported the invasion of Ukraine.

Earlier this year, she was sanctioned by US and UK authorities, who accused the thirty-year-old of contributing to online “disinformation” in relation to Russia’s invasion.

Footage of the investigators examining the site of the explosion and fire of the car in which #DaryaDugina died. pic.twitter.com/7JWYufQ6LT

— Bandy (@Bandy33807340) August 21, 2022

In May, she described the war as a “clash of civilizations” in an interview and expressed pride in the fact that both she and her father had been sanctioned by the West.

Alexander Dugin was sanctioned by the US in 2015 for his alleged involvement in the Russian annexation of Crimea.

His writings are credited with having a deep influence on Vladimir Putin’s worldview, and he is considered to be a chief intellectual architect of the ultra-nationalist ideology adhered to by many in the Kremlin.

For years, Dugin has called on Moscow to assert itself more aggressively on the global stage and has supported Russian military action in Ukraine.