Daria Dugin, daughter of Alexander Dugin, is dead. Professor Mark Galeotti comments

On Saturday evening in Daria Dugin was killed by a car blast on a highway near Moscowdaughter of Alexander Dugin, the Kremlin’s chief ideologist, promoter of Russian imperialism and supporter of the invasion of Ukraine. The information was confirmed by the Russian Investigative Committee.

Galeotti, author of 24 books on Russiais convinced that the real target of the attack was supposed to be Dugin himself, but – as he points out – there are many possible hypotheses about who was supposed to care about killing him.

“Russian commentators already blame Kyiv without explaining why Dugin would be his target – there are far more angry and influential commentators (than he – ed.) – or how they managed to launch an attack in the heart of the Russian police state. Likewise, others assume. that it was an attack by the Kremlin because they wanted to make Dugin a symbolic martyr, or because it was feared that ultranationalists like him might spark protests if Russia withdrew from wars in Ukraine. Finally, there are inevitable suggestions that this was in fact a contract homicide, which was not caused by politics but by business disputes. After all, Dugin is a phenomenally prolific writer – quality aside – and an energetic self-promoter. In other words, there is clearly a lot of money in his furious and mystical nationalism. This murder will only strengthen the myth of Dugin, which he himself developed so carefully, “Galeotti writes on the portal of the weekly” The Spectator “.

As he argues, although many people in the West consider Dugin to be “Putin’s brain” or “Rasputin Putin”, he is not, and has never been, particularly influential and has no personal ties to the Russian president. He is – as Galeotti believes – one of a whole series of “political entrepreneurs” who are trying to present their plans and doctrines to the Kremlin, and in fact, for a while, in 2014, he was on a wave because his claims about Russia’s civilization destiny and the status of the Eurasian nation were convenient in rationalizing the land grab Donbas. Later, however, Dugin was no longer useful.

“He may not have any real influence in the government, but his ability to present himself as a deep thinker whose ideas frame the Kremlin’s thinking means that he is considered important. And if people consider him important, then to some extent he becomes important. Or rather, the myth of Dugin becomes important, “writes the author. “It is this myth that is likely to be relevant in the aftermath of his daughter’s murder,” he adds.

As predicted by Galeotti, there are likely to be a few hasty arrests, fake evidence of Ukrainian, American and British plots in the murder of Duginej will be presented, but in reality the Kremlin, which already seems to have no brakes on actions in Ukraine, will not want to come out. beyond symbolism.

“But we and, more importantly, the Russians, have seen it all before. It is unlikely to bring any conciliation or reassurance. Rather, it is one more clue to the subsurface instabilities and weaknesses of a regime that is trying to appear invincible,” Galeotti points out.

Mykhailo Podolak, advisor to the president of Ukraine, assured on Sunday that Kyiv has nothing to do with this attack, because Ukraine “is not a terrorist country”.

The head of pro-Russian separatists in the Donbas, Denys Puszylin, has made accusations against the Ukrainian authorities. He announced that Dugin’s daughter had fallen victim to the actions of Ukrainian saboteurs who wanted to kill her father. The spokeswoman Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Maria Zakharova said that the results of the investigation should be waited for, and if the “competent authorities” confirm “Pushlin’s version”, it will be possible to speak of a “policy of state terrorism” on the part of the Ukrainian authorities.

The footage published on the web shows a burning car, which – according to the media – was supposed to be taken by Daria Dugin to take her father. Local media cited by Ukrainian portals claim that the Kremlin’s main ideologist changed his mind at the last minute and got into another car, thus avoiding death.

Andrei Krasnov, head of the Russkij Horizont (Russian Horizon) social movement, in an interview with the TASS agency said that the car in which Daria Dugin died belonged to her father.

Other recordings available on the Internet show – according to the Ukrainian media – Alexander Dugin, holding his head, standing near the burning wreckage of an off-road vehicle.