Steph Deschamps / August 24, 2022
Several hundred people gathered Tuesday in Moscow for the funeral of the daughter of an ultranationalist ideologue supporting the offensive in Ukraine killed in a car explosion, an attack that Moscow blames on Kiev.
Daria Dugina was killed Saturday night in an explosion of the vehicle she was driving on a road near Moscow. She was 29 years old.
A journalist and political scientist, she was the daughter of Alexander Dugin, an ultranationalist ideologue and writer promoting an imperialist doctrine. Like her father, she was a strong supporter of the Russian offensive in Ukraine.
Tuesday, hundreds of people, including relatives and politicians, gathered in front of the coffin of Daria Dugina, above which had been hung a portrait of her smiling, noted AFP.
She died at the front for the nation, for Russia. The front, it is here, said Mr. Dugin in a trembling voice, eyes darkened.
Less than 48 hours after the death of Daria Dugina, the Russian security services (FSB) said on Monday that they had concluded that the attack had been prepared and carried out by the Ukrainian intelligence services. Kiev denied any involvement.
In a message of condolence, Russian President Vladimir Putin denounced a despicable, cruel crime that prematurely ended the life of Daria Dugina, a brilliant and talented person with a truly Russian heart.
Mr. Putin also posthumously awarded her the Order of Courage, an important decoration.
Promoter of Eurasism, an imperialist doctrine advocating an alliance between Europe and Asia, under Russian leadership, Alexander Dugin has been targeted since 2014 by European Union sanctions. A media personality and polyglot, he is influential in a part of the European far right.
Nicknamed by some media Putin's brain, Mr. Dugin is sometimes presented as being close to the Russian president. But the latter has never publicly supported him and many observers put his influence in the Kremlin into perspective.