The daughter of a right-wing extremist close to the Kremlin dies in a suspected assassination attempt. A Russian underground group is now claiming responsibility for the attack.
+++ 08.00 a.m.: According to the US government, it has no precise information about the background to the assassination attempt on Russian war supporter Darya Dugina in Moscow. “We don’t really know who was behind this and what the motive might have been,” National Security Council communications director John Kirby told CNN. There was no direct communication with the Ukrainian government accused by Russia. But Kyiv was “very transparent” when it denied any involvement.
Update from Tuesday, August 23, 06:05: Estonia has denied the allegation by Russia’s domestic intelligence agency FSB that the alleged killer of Russian pro-war supporter Darya Dugina fled to the Baltic country. This is just another provocation by Russia, said Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu. The daughter of Russian ideologue Aleksandr Dugin died on Sunday night at the age of 29 when her car exploded near Moscow. The FSB blamed a Ukrainian woman for the murder and also published a video about it.
Attack on Dugina: Putin awards medals posthumously
+++ 10:04 p.m.: Vladimir Putin posthumously awarded Darya Dugina the Order of Bravery. In a statement, the Kremlin announced that the order was awarded for “courage and unselfishness in the performance of professional duties.” Dugina had been killed in an attack.
+++ 8.10 p.m.: After the murder of his daughter, Dugin is now calling on the Russians to fight for his right-wing nationalist and imperialist ideology. “Our hearts do not simply thirst for vengeance or vengeance. That would be too small, not Russian,” Dugin announced via a confidante on Telegram. “We just need our victory. My daughter laid her girlish life on his altar. So please win!”
Putin comments on Dugina’s death: a ‘disgraceful, cruel crime’
+++ 6.40 p.m.: Russian President Putin called the attack on Dugina a “disgraceful, cruel crime”. Sending condolences to the family, Putin said he prematurely ended the life of a “brilliant and talented person with a truly Russian heart.”
As Russian media reports, the actual target of the attack was Dugina’s father, who is considered the mastermind of Kremlin boss Putin. The ultra-nationalist intellectual advocates the ideology of uniting Russian-speaking regions in a new Russian empire. Based on this conviction, he supports the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine. Dugin, who is well connected with right-wing extremists in Europe, has been on the sanctions list since the Ukrainian Black Sea peninsula of Crimea was annexed in 2014 EU.
Putin advisor loses daughter in attack: Russia blames Ukraine
+++ 2.15 p.m.: Russia blames Ukraine for the murder of Darya Dugina. “The crime was prepared and committed by Ukrainian secret services,” Russia’s domestic intelligence agency FSB said, according to the Interfax agency. Kyiv had previously denied having anything to do with Dugina’s assassination.
+++ 1.30 p.m.: A former speechwriter for Vladimir Putin has called the alleged car bomb attack that killed the daughter of right-wing nationalist ideologue Alexander Dugin an “act of intimidation”. The alleged perpetrators wanted to demonstrate that hostilities had been secretly transferred to Russian territory, said Abbas Galliamov. It’s no longer about abstract attacks that you watch on TV. “Not only is Crimea being bombed, but terrorist attacks are already being perpetrated in the Moscow region.”
Daughter of Putin adviser dies: Russian underground group claims attack for itself
+++ 11.55 a.m.: After the death of right-wing Russian political scientist and journalist Darja Dugina, a previously unknown partisan movement claimed responsibility for the attack (see update from 6:45 a.m.). Responsible for the murder of the daughter right-wing nationalist ideologue Alexander Dugin is said to be the “National Republican Army” movement. It was initially not possible to verify whether such a group actually existed. Some experts in social networks doubt that an improvised opposition movement could be behind such a sophisticated and elaborately planned assassination and rather see the signature of the Russian security authorities.
Update from Monday, August 22, 06:45: A previously unknown Russian underground group is said to have carried out the alleged attack on Alexander Dugin’s car. That claimed Putin critic Ilya Ponomarev on Sunday evening in an opposition TV station he co-founded. The National Republican Army (NRA) authorized him to make a statement.
“We declare President Putin an illegitimate contender for power and a war criminal who changed the constitution, unleashed fratricidal war between Slavic peoples and sent Russian soldiers to certain and senseless deaths,” the statement said. The NRA wants to overthrow the Putin regime. Neither the document nor Ponomarev’s statements have been independently verified.
Daughter of Putin adviser dies in attack: Russia starts investigations
+++ 21.07: Noisy New York Times Russia has started the investigation. Darja Dugina, daughter of a Putin adviser, died in an attack. However, according to the current status of the investigation, it is unclear how her death came about. Russia blamed Ukraine. Kyiv rejects the allegations.
+++ 2:53 p.m.: Darya Dugina, daughter of a Putin adviser, died in an attack. Now Russian media are rushing against Ukraine and accusing the country of being responsible for the attack. According to t-online, Tsargrad TV is disseminating statements by Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of the Russian channel RT. The Kremlin must now provide an answer. “Kyiv will tremble,” she said.
Akim Apachev, Russian military commander, said: “Of course this is a great loss for all of us, but I would like to say that it will certainly be avenged”. Ukraine said it had nothing to do with the attack.
Attack in Russia: Daughter of Putin adviser dies – authorities give new details
+++ 1.15 p.m.: The Russian authorities have now confirmed once again who died in the attack near Moscow on Sunday morning: “The identity of the dead has been clarified – it is the journalist and political scientist Darya Dugina,” said the national investigative committee. The attack happened on Saturday evening in a suburb of Moscow. According to initial findings, an explosive device was mounted on the vehicle, which detonated.
Update from Sunday, August 21, 11:45 a.m.: The Ukrainian government in Kyiv has stressed that it had nothing to do with the attack on Daria Dugina, daughter of Alexander Dugin. “Unlike Russia, we are not a criminal state,” said Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, on Sunday morning.
So far it is unclear who was behind the alleged murder. Police investigations in Moscow are ongoing.
First report from Sunday, August 21, 6:45 a.m.: Moscow – In Russia Apparently, according to consistent reports, there was an attack on right-wing extremist Alexander Dugin. His daughter Daria Dugina was killed, as an investigative committee of the Russian authorities officially said on Sunday morning. According to Russian media reports, the car Dugina was in exploded while driving.
The Russian newspaper Kommersant reports that Dugin actually wanted to drive the jeep. He is said to have changed his mind at short notice. He and his daughter are said to have attended a festival organized by the Kremlin before the attack. The Russian police are now investigating. The authorities have not yet commented on this.
Russia: Far-right Alexander Dugin known as “Putin’s Brain”.
Alexander Dugin is considered an influential advisor to Vladimir Putin. He is a prominent representative of the neo-racist theory, according to which Russia must become a great empire again. In the right-wing extremist scene, he is considered to be very well connected. Dugin earned his career as a writer for the far-right newspaper in the 1990s The international notoriety. In it he published, among other things, a manifesto entitled “The Great War of the Continents”. In it he revealed his idea of Russia’s dominance over the West. Dugin has appeared as a commentator on Russian state television several times in the past. Among other things, he was nicknamed “Putin’s brain”. the Washington Post once saw him in an analysis as a strategist for the Kremlin Ukraine war.
Dugin’s allegedly killed daughter, Daria Dugina, is said to have also followed the right-wing extremist ideology. (do with dpa/AFP)