The daughter of Russian President Vladimir Putin was killed on Saturday after the car she was driving suddenly exploded near Moscow.
According to Russia’s main investigative authority, the victim was apparently the daughter of Alexander Dugin, a far-right Russian nationalist who helped shape the Kremlin’s narrative about Ukraine.
In a statement released by Russia’s Investigative Committee, they had opened a criminal murder case and is now looking into the incident.
“A Toyota Land Cruiser went off at full speed on a public highway and caught fire, it said, after an explosive device planted under the bottom of the car on the driver’s side blew up. The driver, identified by the committee as journalist and political scientist Daria Dugina died at the scene. It said early evidence pointed to a murder for hire,” the Washington Post reported as per the committee.
According to the reports, the 29-year old was driving her father’s car when the explosion occured. It was also revealed that Daria was driving from a festival they both attended at that time.
In a statement released by Dugin’s friend Andrey Krasnov during an interview with the state-run media outlet Tass, Krasnov said she “was driving another car but she took his car today,” and added that he believed her father was the target of an attack, “or maybe the two of them.”
“The car caught fire immediately [following the explosion]. She lost control, because she was driving at speed, and flew to the opposite side of the road.” Krasnov added.
In 2015, Dugin was branded as an “anti-American” and “anti-Western.” He was also quoted in the Christian Science Monitor where he claimd that the decision-making in the Kremlin was “obscure” even to him.
“Nobody, not even top officials, know for sure who or what Putin is listening to. Anything anyone tells you about how Putin decides things is either disinformation, or error.” Dugin claimed.
Moreover, Anton Shekhovtsov, director of the Vienna-based Center for Democratic Integrity also spoke about Dugina and claimed that he “is definitely anti-American, anti-liberal, anti-Western. But the Kremlin or Putin do not need Dugin to be anti-American and anti-Western.”
Meanwhile, Dugin’s daughter had been supporting the war in Ukraine and Russian expansion.
In her several public comments and interviews, she talked about her father’s theories, supporting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which she described as “a clash” of Eurasian and U.S.-led civilizations.
