Putin’s brain ideologist daughter killed in blast

By Our Special Correspondent

The daughter of an influential Russian political theorist often referred to as "Putin's brain" was killed in a car bombing on the outskirts of Moscow, officials said Sunday.

The Moscow branch of the Russian Investigative Committee said preliminary information indicated that 29-year-old TV presenter Daria Dugina was killed by an explosive device in the SUV she was driving on Saturday night.

Dugin was a prominent proponent of the concept of a "Russian world," a spiritual and political ideology that emphasized traditional values, the restoration of Russia's power, and the unity of all ethnic Russians around the world.

His daughter was returning from attending a cultural festival with him when the blast occurred. Russian media reports cited witnesses as saying the SUV belonged to Dugin and that he decided to travel in another vehicle at the last minute.

Denis Pushilin, president of the separatist Donetsk People's Republic, a pro-Moscow region at the center of Russia's fight in Ukraine, blamed the blast on "terrorists of the Ukrainian regime trying to kill Alexander Dugin".

Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, denied Ukrainian involvement, saying, "We are not a criminal country, unlike Russia, and certainly not a terrorist country."

Political analyst Abbas Galyamov, a former speechwriter for Putin, called the attack an "act of intimidation" aimed at Kremlin loyalists.

For them, he said, "this is a symbolic act, demonstrating that hostilities have been confidently transferred to Russian territory, which means that this is no longer an abstract war that you see on TV." "It's already there. It's happening in Russia. Besides the bombing of Crimea, there are already terrorist attacks in the Moscow region.

While Dugin's exact ties to Putin remain unclear, the Kremlin often echoes rhetoric from his writings and appearances on Russian state TV. He helped popularize the concept of "Novorossiya," or "New Russia," which Russia used to justify its 2014 annexation of Ukraine's Crimean peninsula and support for separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine.

His daughter expressed similar views and appeared as a commentator on the nationalist TV channel Tsargrad, where Dugin served as editor-in-chief.

Dugina was sanctioned by the United States in March for her work as editor-in-chief of United World International, the website of the U.S. It has been cited as a source of false information. The sanctions announcement made this year's United World article arguing that Ukraine would be "destroyed" if it joins NATO.

Appearing on Russian television just Thursday, Dugina said, "People in the West are living a dream, a dream given to them by world domination." She called America a "zombie society" in which people opposed Russia but couldn't find it on a map.