Russia-Ukraine War: Daughter Of Alexander Dugin Loses Her Life In A Car Bomb Attack In The Environs Of Moscow

The daughter of the prominent Russian ideologue Alexander Dugin has died in a car bomb attack near Moscow.

Dugin is considered a prominent supporter of President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and some believe that he is the "spiritual guide" to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

His daughter's name was Daria Dugina. She was a journalist and a political analyst.

She was born in 1992 and studied Philosophy at Moscow State University.

On Saturday night, she was driving a Toyota Land Cruiser outside Odintsovo, a suburb about 20km west of Moscow, as it exploded.

According to the Russian state news agency TASS, "Dugina lost her life instantly after an explosive device, installed in the Toyota Land Cruiser, went off on a public road and the car caught fire at around 9.00 p.m. local time on Saturday."

The blast occurred when Dugina turned onto the Mozhaiskoye highway near the village of Bolshiye Vyazemi. The car caught fire immediately," as per reports from TASS.

The flames completely engulfed the car and it flew to the opposite side of the road.

The bomb was placed under the car on the driver’s side.

Dugina's father was the true target of the blast -- or possibly both of them -- as the car belonged to Alexander, said a friend of Dugina.

"It's her father's car. Dasha (Daria) drives another car, but she drove his car today, and Alexander went separately," said Andrei Krasnov, head of the Russky Gorizont (Russian Horizon) social movement and a personal acquaintance of Dugina's family.

Earlier that night, she was accompanying her father while he gave a lecture at a festival outside the capital.

The father had planned to travel with his daughter after the lecture but due to some reason he had to go to another place and he couldn't make it, so Daria was driving back alone.

“She took his car today, while Alexander went in a different way. He returned, he was at the site of the tragedy. As far as I understand, Alexander or probably they together were the target,” said Krasnov, as per FT's report.

There are numerous videos on social media which claim that Dugin apparently saw the car's flaming debris, the car in which his daughter charred to death. He was holding his head in his hands after apparently witnessing the flames from the debris of the car.

However, if it was indeed Dugin in these videos, witnessing the aftermath of the bomb attack, remains unclear.

Daria was just 29. She is the first high-profile supporter of Putin to be assassinated, that too inside Russia, near the capital, where life had largely gone on unperturbed despite the western sanctions aimed at imposing pain on Russians.

“Daria’s despicable murder is a sign of the enemy’s cowardice and powerlessness. His death throes. He can’t fight honourably, so he kills the best of us. The enemy will answer for this very soon,” said Konstantin Malofeyev, a media tycoon.

“Ukraine has absolutely nothing to do with this because we are not a criminal state like Russia, or a terrorist one at that," said Mykhailo Podolyak, a senior adviser to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Russians believe this was a targeted assassination and they hold the Ukrainians responsible for it. Ukrainians claim they had no part in it, although, many Ukrainians expressed their glee on social media after they heard the news.