Daughter Of Close Ally Of Russian Leader, Putin Killed In Car Bomb ‘Meant For Her Dad’

Daughter Of Close Ally Of Russian Leader, Putin Killed In Car Bomb ‘Meant For Her Dad’

Darya Dugina, daughter of a prominent Russian ideologue who advocates that his country should absorb Ukraine, Alexander Dugin, was killed in a suspected car bomb attack outside Moscow on Saturday evening, Russian state investigators said on Sunday. 

Darya was described as a journalist 

Darya was killed after the suspected explosive device detonated on the Toyota Land Cruiser she was travelling in, the investigators said in a statement, Reuters reports.

Russia's TASS state news agency quoted Andrei Krasnov, someone who knew Dugina, as saying the vehicle belonged to her father and that he was probably the intended target.

Darya and her father, Dugin had been attending a festival outside Moscow and Dugin had decided to switch cars at the last minute, according to Russian government newspaper, Rossiiskaya Gazeta.

TV footage provided along with the statement showed investigators collecting debris and fragments from the spot where the explosion occurred.

Investigators have opened a murder case and would be carrying out forensic examinations to find out what happened. 

According to investigators, "all versions" will be considered as they investigate to find out the person, people or group responsible for the crime.

Dugin has long advocated the unification of Russian-speaking and other territories in a vast new Russian empire.

He wants that empire to include Ukraine where Russian forces are currently carrying out what Moscow calls a "special military operation" to demilitarise Ukraine, France 24 reports.

The influence of Dugin, who is on a U.S. sanctions list, over Russian President Vladimir Putin has been a subject of speculation, with some analysts asserting that his sway is significant. 

However, some others have described his influence as not significant.

Darya Dugina, who also went by the surname Platonova and was reported by Russian state media to be 30 years old, broadly supported her father's ideas and appeared on state TV in her own right to offer support for Russia's actions in Ukraine.

Some reports said the deceased was 29 years old. 

In a statement in March, the U.S. Treasury said Dugina, the chief editor of the United World International website, which has suggested Ukraine would "perish" if admitted to the NATO military alliance, had been put on a U.S. sanctions list.

No suspects were immediately identified.

But Denis Pushilin, President of the separatist Donetsk People’s Republic, blamed it on ‘terrorists of the Ukrainian regime, trying to kill Alexander Dugin’, according to Metro UK.