Russia Opens Murder Investigation After Blast Kills Daughter of Putin Ally – The New York Times

The Russian authorities said on Sunday that they had opened a murder investigation into the death of Daria Dugina, 29, after her Toyota Land Cruiser exploded on a highway 20 miles west of Moscow. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the incident, and no evidence the killing was linked to the war in Ukraine.

A senior Ukrainian official said his country was not responsible for the attack. The Russian Foreign Ministry said if Ukraine had been responsible, it would be a state terrorism policy.

Daria Dugina followed in her father’s footsteps as a commentator who combined hawkish, imperialist views with jargon-laden political philosophy. Two days before her death, she argued on a state television talk show that “the Western man lives in a dream.”

Her father was also sanctioned by the US for threats to the peace, security, stability, or sovereignty of Ukraine.

Dugina was a frequent and high-profile contributor of disinformation in relation to Ukraine and the Russian invasion of Ukraine on various online platforms, and was a co-author of a forthcoming book on the war in Ukraine called “The Z Book”.

Dugina’s public commentary provided an ideological framework for Putin’s aggressive foreign policy, describing the war in Ukraine as an inevitable clash of civilizations.

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