Killed in an attack that, it is speculated, aimed at her father, one of the main architects of Russian expansion Aleksandr Dugin, Daria Dugina followed in her father’s footsteps.
Like him, he was strongly in favor of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, using his appearances as a political commentator on state TV — where his father was editor-in-chief — to endorse the Kremlin’s actions in the conflict. Also like him, he defended “Eurasianism”, a theory that preaches the expansion of Moscow’s presence to the regions of historical influence of the Russian people.
In a recent interview quoted by The Washington Post, for example, she claimed that the true Ukrainian identity was located in the west of the invaded country, but that the eastern part, including the Donbass, was liable to accept a “Eurasian empire”, in the words of them, based on nationality and religious faith.
In another, he said the massacre of 450 civilians by the Russian army in Butcha, outside Kiev, in April — classified by some as a war crime — was staged in a campaign to tarnish Russia’s image.
But unlike Dugin, who gained fame even in Brazil with his far-right ideas, his daughter was mainly dedicated to echoing her father’s ideas, and was little known even in Russia, outside ultra-nationalist circles, according to the New York Times. . It is worth noting that even the influence of Dugin, once called “Putin’s ideologue”, has been the subject of speculation, with some analysts saying it is significant and others deeming it minimal.
Dugina was 30 years old according to Russian state media. She was editor-in-chief of United World International (UWI), a site created in 2020 focused on geopolitical analysis, where she commissioned texts from contributors.
Her performance on the platform, accused of promoting disinformation about the Ukrainian War, made her the target of sanctions by the United States and the United Kingdom.
While the first cites an article published on the website this year that claimed that Ukraine would perish if it were admitted to NATO, the US-led western military alliance, the second describes the political commentator as responsible for promoting a policy that “destabilizes Ukraine and undermines or threatens its territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence”.
The conglomerate to which the United World International (UWI) belongs, Project Lakhta, was also accused by the US of having used disinformation tactics to interfere in the 2018 US elections, creating fictitious social media users to post texts in favor of the then candidate. Donald Trump and against Hilary Clinton.
Dugina died when the car he was in exploded on Saturday (20) on the outskirts of Moscow. The rescuers who attended to her say the death was instantaneous, and her body was disfigured by the flames.
Russia’s Investigative Committee has opened an investigation into the attack, which it treats as a “premeditated crime”. The agency says an explosive was planted in the vehicle, on the driver’s side.
While investigations are still ongoing, the Russian Foreign Ministry speculated that Ukraine was behind the blast, and Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the foreign ministry, said possible Ukrainian involvement would point to a policy of “state terrorism.” ” instituted by Kiev.
Mikhailo Podoliak, adviser to the Ukrainian presidency, denied Ukraine’s role in Dugina’s death and blamed internal conflicts between Russia’s “various political factions”. He even suggested that the incident was a “karmic” response to supporters of Russian actions.
According to the New York Times, Dugina was working on a book about the Ukrainian War called “The Book of Z”, or the book of Z, in reference to the letter painted on several of the Russian tanks that invaded Ukraine. The letter, in Latin alphabet, meant “Za pobedu”, or for victory.
