‘Putin’s Brain’ Aleksandr Dugin Calls for Revenge, Claims Ukrainians Killed His Daughter in Car Bombing

Russian philosopher Aleksandr Dugin, an ultra-nationalist who supports the creation of a new Russian empire and the invasion of Ukraine, blamed Ukrainians for detonating a car bomb that killed his daughter Monday, saying Russia needs to win the war as revenge for his daughter’s death.

Twenty-nine-year-old TV commentator and journalist Daria Dugina, who also supported the war on Ukraine, was killed by a car bomb outside of Moscow on Saturday.

Videos on social media show her car engulfed in flames, pieces scattered across the road, and the burned carcass of what was left the SUV.

Dugin, in his first public statement after his daughter’s death, said she was “brutally killed by an explosion in front of my eyes,” and claimed it was a “terrorist attack” carried out by the Ukrainian government. The Ukrainian government has denied responsibility.

“Our hearts yearn for more than just revenge or retribution. That would be too small, not according to Russia’s style. We only need our Victory. My daughter laid her maiden life on [victory’s] altar. So win, please!” Dugin said in a statement relayed by his friend, Konstantin Malofeev.

Accusations have flown about who was responsible for Dugina’s death. Russia’s Federal Security Service accused the Ukrainian secret services Monday, saying a woman tracked Dugina’s movements for a month before placing the bomb and fleeing to Estonia.

On Sunday, a former member of Russia’s Duma, Ilya Ponomarev, said the anti-Putin organization National Republican Army was responsible for carrying out the attack.

The circumstances of the attack may point to Dugin being the intended target, as a friend of Dugina said the car she was driving was her father’s. Dugin had been with her at the nationalist festival called Traditions, but drove home in a separate car.

Dugin’s influence on Russian president Vladimir Putin has been doubted by Western scholars, as he’s never held an official role in the Kremlin. Some, however, have described him as instrumental to Russia adopting a more expansionist foreign policy rooted in Eurasianism, with Foreign Policy calling him “Putin’s brain.”

Dugina echoed her father’s ideology, and in her final appearance on Russian state TV on Thursday, said, “People in the West are living in a dream. In a dream given to them by global hegemony. In order to wake them up a little bit . . . they need to be nourished with this war.”

“If, God forbid, [the West] starts to figure things out and realize which sides are confronting each other, then it will become very dangerous and they will need to be put to sleep again,” she said.

She also claimed the Bucha massacre, in which hundreds of Ukrainians were reportedly killed outside of Kyiv by Russian forces and were buried in mass graves, was staged, and orchestrated by Western media. She said the name “Bucha” was chosen strategically by the media as it sounds like “butcher.”

Russian authorities said Sunday they had launched a murder investigation, and that they believe the car bombing on Dugina to be pre-planned.

Dugina’s memorial services will be held Tuesday, Dugin said.

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