Aug 21 (Reuters) – The daughter of a Russian ultra-nationalist ideologist, herself a supporter of Ukraine’s annexation, was killed on Saturday night near Moscow in a car explosion that may have been caused by a bomb , Russian investigators said on Sunday.
Daria Douguina, daughter of Alexandre Douguine, sometimes presented as the mastermind of the invasion of Ukraine and as a close friend of President Vladimir Putin, did not survive the destruction of his Toyota Land Cruiser, said a press release.
Video released with the release shows wreckage of the vehicle at the site of the explosion.
A murder investigation has been opened and an autopsy will be performed, say the investigators who say they are not ruling out any leads.
Alexander Dugin, 60, a target of US sanctions since 2014, has long advocated for Moscow’s annexation of territories inhabited by Russian-speaking populations to restore a vast Russian empire, a project that Vladimir Putin himself seemed to set in motion. before when he launched his “special military operation” in Ukraine on 24 February.
The influence of the nationalist theoretician with the Russian president has however been reduced in recent months, according to some experts.
His daughter, Daria Dugina, who also called herself Platonova, was 30, according to Russian state media. She shared her father’s ideas, which she had defended in her own name on state television after the invasion of Ukraine. The press release from the investigators presents her as a journalist and political analyst. (Reuters report, French version Tangi Salan)