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Russian investigators at the scene of the explosion
Photo: Uncredited / picture alliance/dpa/Investigative Committee of Russia/AP
Darja Dugina was one of the staunch supporters of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine.
Now her death is once again fueling the war propagandists around Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin.
The vehicle with the 29-year-old at the wheel went up in flames about 20 kilometers west of Moscow near the small town of Bolshiye Vyazyomy after a car bomb exploded.
And although the investigation into the alleged assassination is still ongoing, Russian state propaganda has hastened to blame the assassination on "Ukrainian terrorists".
The attack is said to have been aimed at Dugina's father, the right-wing nationalist ideologue Alexander Dugin.
Videos of the Toyota Land Cruiser on fire made the rounds on social media - and of a shaken Dugin, who rushed to the scene on Saturday and, as can be seen in photos, clapped his hands over his head.
"The identity of the dead has been clarified - it is the journalist and political scientist Darya Dugina," said the statement from the state investigative committee.
The investigators also published a video of the search for clues.
Investigated because of a contract killing in different directions.
incitement against Kyiv
The editor-in-chief of the Russian state television channel RT, Margarita Simonyan, condemned the alleged attack on the "young, smart, beautiful and incredibly talented woman".
"Darya could have become one of those people who are forming a new national ideology for Russia." Simonian also called for revenge and called for an attack on "decision centers" in Kyiv.
This refers to the command centers of the Ukrainian government and the military.
Dugina was a "real patriot", lamented the prominent foreign politician and Russian negotiator in the conflict with Ukraine, Leonid Slutzki, on the Telegram news channel.
"This barbaric murder of Darja - it's basically a terrorist attack on the ideology and the uniting of the Russian world." The guilty should be punished with the full severity of the law.
Russia's domestic secret service FSB reports almost daily arrests of suspected terrorists who are said to have planned attacks on behalf of Ukraine.
Again and again, the agents also published unverifiable photos and videos of self-made explosive devices and confessions of the suspects.
Ukraine has distanced itself from the alleged attack
In Kyiv, Presidential Advisor Mykhailo Podoliak stressed that Ukraine had nothing to do with the attack.
On television he said that this incident could also come in handy for Russia to justify mobilization for the war.
In addition, many groups in Russia were now fighting among themselves for ideological positions in the domestic political arena.
The expert Ruslan Trad spread the thesis on Twitter that the attack could also be an act of revenge by the FSB.
"Especially since Dugin, rumor has it, is telling Putin that the FSB is to blame for the poor results in Ukraine."
In any case, many are convinced that Alexander Dugin himself was the target of the attack.
Russian media reported that he and his daughter attended the patriotic festival "Tradition" on Saturday.
Dugin was announced as a speaker there.
His daughter, who was with him, parked the car in a special guest parking lot.
The bomb could have been installed there.
There was probably no video surveillance.
The alleged bomb attack was "premeditious and order-related," said investigator chief Alexander Bastrykin.
According to the media, the father and daughter then wanted to leave together.
But Dugin stayed.
col/dpa