Moscow after the alleged attack: Dugina’s death raises many questions

It is still unclear whether the alleged car bomb attack in Moscow was actually aimed at Darja Dugina or at her father, the right-wing ideologue Alexander Dugin. The incident caused consternation in the Moscow public – Ukraine is accused.

On Sunday morning, the investigative committee announced the first results of its investigations: “At around 9 p.m. on August 20, an explosive device presumably installed in a car exploded on a public road in the district of Odintsovo at full speed. The car caught fire. Its driver died on The identity of the deceased has since been established: it is the journalist and political scientist Darja Dugina.”

According to media reports, the investigators are assuming that the crime was targeted and prepared. However, they left open whether the alleged attack, as is now widely speculated, was actually aimed at the father of the dead, Alexander Dugin. The 60-year-old is considered one of the most influential right-wing nationalist ideologues, although it is disputed how close he actually is to the Kremlin.

Dugina also engaged in propaganda

Experts do not see him as a direct whisperer of Vladimir Putin, as Dugin is often called, but merely as a radical mastermind of geopolitics very similar to that of the Russian president. What is currently particularly evident in the fact that Putin, like Dugin before him, denies Ukraine its right to exist as a state.

But Dugin’s daughter, who attended a patriotic festival with her father on Saturday night and is said to have driven his car home afterwards, was no stranger either. As a journalist and political scientist, the 29-year-old has often appeared on television and recently repeatedly justified the military operation in Ukraine. “What is happening there now is an attempt by the Russians to protect civilians from death,” she said.

dismay in Moscow

The death of the young woman and the alleged attack caused dismay, especially in Moscow. A correspondent on the First Channel of Russian state television was shocked: “I appeal to all services on which our lives depend, including mine: People, help. We shouldn’t have terrorist attacks in the city. There shouldn’t be any in Russia at all. Something like that shouldn’t be.”

Recently there had been repeated incidents, including on the annexed peninsula of Crimea, where many Russians are currently vacationing. The Russian side spoke of either accidents or acts of sabotage, but not possible attacks.

Ukrainian government denies involvement

While the investigations into the current case are still ongoing, voices are already being raised in and outside of Russia that blame Ukraine for the crime. Among them is the leader of the Donetsk separatist regions, Denis Pushilin, who is convinced that the Ukrainian side wanted to liquidate Dugin.

Later, the spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, said that if such allegations were confirmed, then, with a view to Kiev’s politics, one would have to speak of state terrorism in the future. We are now awaiting the results of the investigation.

Kyiv has already denied being involved. Ukraine has nothing to do with it, presidential adviser Mykhailo Podoliak told the media: “Because we’re not a criminal state, that’s the Russian Federation. And we’re even less a terrorist state.”