Russia’s Federal Security Bureau claims to have solved the assassination of the daughter of Russian ultra-nationalist Alexander Dugin in Moscow, claiming Ukrainian intelligence services were behind the attack.
Darya Dugina, 29, was killed in an explosion that destroyed her car on Sunday with what the FSB claims was a remote-controlled bomb, according to TASS. The security service said that Natalia Vovk, a Ukrainian citizen who entered Russia on July 23, planted the bomb while Dugina was at a conservative festival in Moscow, then escaped to Estonia.
Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak denied any Ukrainian involvement in the bombing.
“As a result of urgent detective measures, the federal security service has solved the murder of Russian journalist Darya Dugina, born in 1992 … the crime was prepared and committed by Ukrainian secret services,” the FSB said in a statement, according to TASS. “The materials of the investigation have been handed over to the Investigative Committee.”
DAUGHTER OF PUTIN ALLY ALEXANDER DUGIN KILLED IN CAR BLAST
The FSB also claims that Vovk entered Russia with her daughter, buying an apartment within Dugina’s place of residence to collect information. The security service published a video that purports to be CCTV footage of Vovk leaving Russia after the bombing and previous footage of her entering Dugina’s place of residence.
Ukraine has dismissed the accusations as complete fiction.
“I confirm that Ukraine, of course, had nothing to do with this because we are not a criminal state, like the Russian Federation, and moreover we are not a terrorist state,” said Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Zelensky advisor Mykhailo Podolyak rejects Russia’s claims that Ukraine killed Darya Dugina:
“I confirm that Ukraine, of course, had nothing to do with this because we are not a criminal state, like the Russian Federation, and moreover we are not a terrorist state”
— Samuel Ramani (@SamRamani2) August 21, 2022
Darya Dugina was a political activist in her own right, largely echoing her father’s ultra-nationalist beliefs. Dugin is a philosopher known as a leading advocate for the ideology of Eurasianism, which holds that Russia should pursue an aggressive foreign policy that seeks to unite most of the lands of the former Soviet Union under a new “Eurasian Union” dominated by Russia, according to the RAND Corporation. He is deeply hostile to the West and liberalism, a hostility that makes up a large part of his esoteric belief system. He was also a co-founder of the extremist National Bolshevik Party, known colloquially as the Nazbols.
Though Dugin is labeled “Putin’s brain” or “Putin’s Rasputin” by many Western outlets, many experts hold that Dugin doesn’t actually have much, if any, sway over Putin and the Kremlin.
“Although Russian leaders may cite his work or ideas, it does not appear that he is directly influential in Russian policymaking. He is perhaps best thought of as an extremist provocateur with some limited and peripheral impact than as an influential analyst with a direct impact on policy,” a report from the RAND corporation states.
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Russian and Eastern European analyst and former congressional adviser George Barros, writing for Providence Magazine, came to a similar conclusion. All evidence points to the conclusion that “Kremlin elites don’t take Dugin seriously,” he says, with insiders saying he is much better known in the West than in Russia.
Despite the lack of influence, President Vladimir Putin sent his condolences to Dugin in a letter, condemning the “cruel and treacherous” attack, according to the Associated Press. He said Dugina was a “bright, talented person with a real Russian heart — kind, loving, responsive and open” and that she “honestly served people and the Fatherland, proving what it means to be a patriot of Russia with her deeds.”
