Moscow, Aug 21, (dpa/GNA) – The daughter of a right-wing ideologue, linked to Russian President Vladimir Putin, has died in a suspected assassination attempt near Moscow, according to investigators.
“The identity of the dead has been clarified, it is the journalist and political scientist Darya Dugina,” the national investigative committee said on Sunday.
The 29-year-old daughter of Putin confidante Alexander Dugin, was considered a fervent supporter of Russia’s war against Ukraine.
According to reports by Moscow media, she was on Britain’s sanctions list for spreading propaganda and false news about the invasion, ordered by Putin on February 24.
According to investigators, Dugina’s car exploded on Saturday evening in a Moscow suburb. According to initial findings, an explosive device was mounted on the vehicle, which detonated.
Investigators left open whether the assassination attempt could have been aimed at Dugina’s father.
The 60-year-old author and philosopher has often been described as having considerable influence on the Russian President and is thought to be a source of ideas for the country’s attack on Ukraine.
According to a report by the Russian news agency Interfax, Dugin and his daughter attended the patriotic festival Tradition together on Saturday, which is supported by a presidential foundation.
“It was planned that father and daughter leave the festival together, but Darya drove alone in the vehicle,” Interfax reported.
The leader of the pro-Russian separatists in the Donetzk region, in eastern Ukraine, has accused “the terrorists of the Ukrainian regime” of trying to “liquidate Alexander Dugin,” Danis Pushilin wrote on Telegram.
Darya will be remembered as a “real Russian girl,” he said.
Ukrainian presidential advisor Mykhailo Podoliak has denied that Kiev, was behind Darya’s death.
“Ukraine, of course, has nothing to do with the explosion because we are not a criminal state like the Russian Federation, and certainly not a terrorist state,” he said during an appearance on television on Sunday, according to the news portal Ukrainska Pravda.
Observers in Ukraine, meanwhile, do not believe that the forces in the country are currently capable of carrying out such an assassination.
GNA