Daughter of prominent Russian ideologist Alexander Dugin, Darya Dugina died Saturday night in a suspected car bomb attack outside Moscow, Russian state investigators said on Sunday.
Darya a journalist and political expert died after a suspected explosive device detonated in her Toyota Land Cruiser, investigators said in a statement, according to Reuters.
Russian state news agency TASS, citing Dugina’s acquaintance Andrei Krasnov, said the vehicle belonged to her father and he was likely the intended target.
According to the Russian government newspaper Rossiskaya Gazeta, Darya, and her father Dugin were attending a festival outside Moscow and Dugin decided at the last minute to switch cars.
Television footage provided with the statement showed investigators collecting rubble and debris from the site of the explosion.
Investigators say “all versions” are taken into account when determining which person, person, or group is responsible for a crime.
Dugin has long advocated the integration of Russian-speaking and other regions into a vast new Russian empire. He wants that empire to include Ukraine, where Russian forces are currently conducting what Moscow calls a “special military operation” to demilitarize Ukraine, France 24 reported.
Dugin’s influence over Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is on the US sanctions list, has been the subject of speculation, with some analysts claiming his influence is significant. However, some describe the impact as negligible.
In a statement in March, the US Treasury Department said Dugina, editor of the United World International website, which suggested that Ukraine would “perish” if admitted to the NATO military alliance, has been included on the US sanction list.
Although no suspects are yet to be identified, according to Metro UK, the separatist Donetsk People’s Republic’s president, Denis Pushirin, has accused “terrorists of the Ukrainian regime who tried to kill Alexander Dugin”.
