Putin's Propagandist Daughter Killed in Car Bombing in Russia's Capital

On Saturday night, a vehicle bomb exploded outside of Moscow, killing the daughter of a Russian far-right thinker dubbed as "Putin's brain" for his alleged impact on the fascist ideas of the Russian president.

The Investigative Committee of Russia has revealed that 30-year-old Darya Dugina, the daughter of Alexander Dugin, was murdered after an explosive device "placed beneath the bottom of the automobile" went off as she was driving. While the committee implied that Dugina may have been the intended target of the explosion, they did not specify that she was.

Late on Saturday, news sites Baza and 112 stated that Dugin was supposed to drive the car but used a different one at the last minute. They subsequently shared images of the explosion extensively on Telegram.

Dugina and her father had been at a Russian cultural event the weekend before the explosion when several pro-Kremlin intellectuals, including Dugin, had spoken on the need to preserve Russia's cultural heritage. There were no CCTV cameras in the VIP parking area where the vehicle was parked; therefore, investigators assume that's where the device was attached to the car's undercarriage. This information comes from the 112 news channel quoted law enforcement sources.

It has been stated that Dugina had been driving for less than ten minutes when the bomb went off.

Dugin, who was following close behind, saw the explosion of his daughter's automobile. Baza posted photos on social media that seemed to show a heartbroken Dugin at the site, where he stood with his hands over his head in front of the burning debris.

Dugin, a philosopher generally thought to be the principal creator of Vladimir Putin's concept of a "Russian World," and the driving force behind his war against Ukraine, was reportedly the intended target of the explosion.

Darya Dugina had previously been quite vocal in supporting Russia's conflict with Ukraine. In an interview given while evidence of Russian war crimes piled up in April in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha, Dugina inexplicably claimed that the United States had picked Bucha because it sounded like "butcher" in English. Moreover, in March, the United States government blacklisted her for participating in Project Lakhta, a Kremlin-led influence campaign.

Pro-Kremlin commentators instantly blamed Ukrainian troops for the blast close to the Russian capital and called for "revenge."

Russian proxy commander in seized Donetsk, Denis Pushilin, took to Telegram to accuse "terrorists of the Ukrainian government" for the explosion, claiming that the perpetrators had intended to kill Alexander Dugin but instead "blew up his daughter."

Dedicated to the memory of Darya, "a real Russian girl," as penned by Pushilin.

Similarly, pro-Kremlin Telegram groups and social media sites have placed responsibility on Ukraine for the explosion and called for Russia to respond with attacks against Kyiv. The editor-in-chief of RT, Margarita Simonyan, seemed to repeat these remarks in a Telegram message, adding, "The centers of decision-making! Centers of power! Centers of power!

Previously, Simonyan had argued that Russian troops didn't go far enough in their assaults on Kyiv and urged military authorities to persistently target "the centers of decision-making" in the Ukrainian capital.

The Ukrainian government has categorically denied any complicity in the incident.

Ukrainian presidential advisor Mykhailo Podolyak remarked on national television, "Ukraine has nothing to do with yesterday's attack, since we are not a criminal state like the Russian Federation, and even more so not a terrorist state."

There have been growing calls for "revenge" in the last few days, just three days before Ukraine celebrates Independence Day, a holiday marked this year by widespread fears that Russia will unleash devastating new attacks on Ukrainians to make up for Russia's military setbacks in the nearly six-month war.

According to Ukrainska Pravda, all government workers in the Ukrainian capital have been ordered to work remotely for the rest of the week.