Darja Dugina an "innocent victim": Pope Francis comments on the attack in Russia

Created: 08/24/2022, 11:50 am

By: Tobias Utz, Moritz Serif, Nadja Austel, Christian Stör

The daughter of a right-wing extremist close to the Kremlin dies in a suspected assassination attempt.

Putin posthumously awarded her the Order of Bravery.

Update from Wednesday, August 24, 11:30 a.m.:

Pope Francis described the murdered Darya Dugina as "one of the innocent victims killed by the war".

news agency

.

"Innocent people pay for the war, innocent people," emphasized the head of the Catholic Church.

Pope Francis photographed on August 17.

© Evandro Inetti / Imago Images

+++ 8.15 p.m .:

After the murder of the Kremlin’s war advocate Darja Dugina, the investigators are looking for other possible participants in the weekend car explosion.

The national investigative committee in Moscow announced on Tuesday that the suspect from the Ukraine should be put out for investigation.

According to Russian media reports, relatives of the woman accused of the crime said they only spied on Dugina's habits, but did not plant a bomb.

The 29-year-old Dugina was buried on Tuesday with the participation of politicians and state media.

Attack on Darya Dugina: Sergey Lavrov announces tough action

The car driven by the daughter of right-wing nationalist Alexander Dugin exploded on August 20 in Moscow region.

The domestic secret service FSB said on Monday that the crime had been solved.

The suspect is said to have rented an apartment in Dugina's house for observation, the investigative committee said.

There and in a garage rented by the wanted woman, traces are also being searched for, it said.

Witnesses were questioned.

In addition, recordings from video surveillance cameras would now be evaluated.

Russia blames Ukrainian secret services for the attack.

Kyiv denies any involvement.

+++ 18:05:

In Moscow, the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov announced tough action against the masterminds of the attack in which the daughter of an ultra-right ideologue close to the Kremlin was killed.

"There can be no mercy for the organizers, clients and performers," he explained.

Lavrov expected that the investigation into the case "will be completed soon".

The US State Department on Monday condemned attacks on civilians and said Ukraine had denied any involvement.

Spokesman Ned Price said he has no doubt that Russia will investigate the case.

"I also have no doubt that the Russians will present certain conclusions." In the online networks, Russia's State Department spokeswoman Maria Zakharova explained that Washington's reaction "discredits the international activities" of the USA.

+++ 12.30 p.m .:

In Moscow, hundreds attended a funeral service for the killed Darya Dugina.

High-ranking politicians, nationalists and friends walked past Dugina's dark wooden coffin in a hall of the television center, laid flowers and expressed their condolences to the parents.

"If her tragic death struck anyone, she would have asked them to defend the holy (Russian) orthodoxy, the people and the fatherland," said her father Alexander Dugin, who has been campaigning for the creation of a new Russian empire for years.

“She died for Russia, in the Motherland and at the front.

The front is not in Ukraine, it is here.”

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Alexander Dugin remembers his daughter Darja Dugina during the funeral service.

© Dmitry Serebryakov/dpa

+++ 8:00 a.m .:

According to its own statements, the US government has no precise information about the background to the assassination attempt on the Russian war supporter Darja Dugina in Moscow.

"We don't really know who was behind this and what the motive might have been," National Security Council communications director John Kirby told CNN.

There was no direct communication with the Ukrainian government accused by Russia.

But Kyiv was "very transparent" when it denied any involvement.

Update from Tuesday, August 23, 6:05 a.m .:

Estonia has rejected the allegation by the Russian domestic secret service FSB that the alleged murderer of Russian war supporter Darya Dugina fled to the Baltic country.

This is just another provocation by Russia, said Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu.

The daughter of Russian ideologue Aleksandr Dugin died on Sunday night at the age of 29 when her car exploded near Moscow.

The FSB blamed a Ukrainian woman for the murder and also published a video about it.

Attack on Dugina: Putin awards medals posthumously

+++ 10:04 p.m .:

Vladimir Putin posthumously awarded Darja Dugina the Order of Bravery.

In a statement, the Kremlin announced that the order was awarded for "courage and unselfishness in the performance of professional duties."

Dugina had been killed in an attack.

+++ 8.10 p.m .:

After the murder of his daughter, Dugin is now calling on the Russians to fight for his right-wing nationalist and imperialist ideology.

“Our hearts do not simply thirst for vengeance or vengeance.

That would be too small, not Russian,” Dugin announced via a confidante on Telegram.

“We just need our victory.

My daughter laid her girlish life on his altar.

So please win!”

Putin comments on Dugina's death: a 'disgraceful, cruel crime'

+++ 18.40:

Russian President Putin called the attack on Dugina a "shameful, cruel crime".

Sending condolences to the family, Putin said he prematurely ended the life of a "brilliant and talented person with a truly Russian heart."

As Russian media reports, the actual target of the attack was Dugina's father, who is considered the mastermind of Kremlin boss Putin.

The ultra-nationalist intellectual advocates the ideology of uniting Russian-speaking regions in a new Russian empire.

Based on this conviction, he supports the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine.

Dugin, who has good connections with right-wing extremists in Europe, has been on the EU's sanctions list since Ukraine's annexation of the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea in 2014.

Putin advisor loses daughter in attack: Russia blames Ukraine

+++ 2.15 p.m .:

Russia blames Ukraine for the murder of Darja Dugina.

"The crime was prepared and committed by Ukrainian secret services," Russia's domestic intelligence agency FSB said, according to the Interfax agency.

Kyiv had previously denied having anything to do with Dugina's assassination.

+++ 1.30 p.m .:

A former speechwriter for Vladimir Putin called the alleged car bomb attack in which the daughter of right-wing nationalist ideologue Alexander Dugin died an “act of intimidation”.

The alleged perpetrators wanted to demonstrate that hostilities had been secretly transferred to Russian territory, said Abbas Galliamov.

It's no longer about abstract attacks that you watch on TV.

"Not only is Crimea being bombed, but terrorist attacks are already being perpetrated in the Moscow region."

Daughter of Putin adviser dies: Russian underground group claims attack for itself

+++ 11.55 a.m .:

After the death of the right-wing Russian political scientist and journalist Darja Dugina, a previously unknown partisan movement has claimed responsibility for the attack (see update from 6.45 a.m.).

The National Republican Army movement is said to be responsible for the murder of the daughter of right-wing nationalist ideologue Alexander Dugin.

It was initially not possible to verify whether such a group actually existed.

Some experts in social networks doubt that an improvised opposition movement could be behind such a sophisticated and elaborately planned assassination and rather see the signature of the Russian security authorities.

Update from Monday, August 22, 6:45 a.m .:

A previously unknown Russian underground group is said to have carried out the alleged attack on Alexander Dugin's car.

That's what the Putin critic Ilya Ponomarev claimed on Sunday evening in an opposition TV channel he co-founded.

The National Republican Army (NRA) authorized him to make a statement.

"We declare President Putin an illegitimate contender for power and a war criminal who changed the constitution, unleashed fratricidal war between Slavic peoples and sent Russian soldiers to certain and senseless deaths," the statement said.

The NRA wants to overthrow the Putin regime.

Neither the document nor Ponomarev's statements have been independently verified.

Daughter of Putin adviser dies in attack: Russia starts investigations

+++ 9:07 p.m .:

According to the

, Russia has started the investigation.

Darja Dugina, daughter of a Putin adviser, died in an attack.

However, according to the current status of the investigation, it is unclear how her death came about.

Russia blamed Ukraine.

Kyiv rejects the allegations.

+++ 14:53:

Darja Dugina, daughter of a Putin adviser, died in an attack.

Now Russian media are rushing against Ukraine and accusing the country of being responsible for the attack.

According to t-online, Tsargrad TV is disseminating statements by Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of the Russian channel RT.

The Kremlin must now provide an answer.

"Kyiv will tremble," she said.

Akim Apachev, Russian military commander, said: "Of course, this is a great loss for all of us, but I would like to say that it will certainly be avenged".

Ukraine said it had nothing to do with the attack.

Attack in Russia: Daughter of Putin adviser dies – authorities give new details

+++ 1:15 p.m .:

The Russian authorities have now confirmed again who died in the attack near Moscow on Sunday morning: “The identity of the dead has been clarified – it is the journalist and political scientist Darja Dugina,” said the national investigative committee .

The attack happened on Saturday evening in a suburb of Moscow.

According to initial findings, an explosive device was mounted on the vehicle, which detonated.

Update from Sunday, August 21, 11:45 a.m .:

The Ukrainian government in Kiev has stressed that it has nothing to do with the attack on Daria Dugina, daughter of Alexander Dugin.

"Unlike Russia, we are not a criminal state," said Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, on Sunday morning.

So far it is unclear who was behind the alleged murder.

Police investigations in Moscow are ongoing.

First report from Sunday, August 21, 6.45 a.m .:

Moscow – According to consistent reports, an attack on the right-wing extremist Alexander Dugin has apparently occurred in Russia.

His daughter Daria Dugina was killed, as an investigative committee of the Russian authorities officially said on Sunday morning.

According to Russian media reports, the car Dugina was in exploded while driving.

The Russian newspaper

reports that Dugin actually wanted to drive the jeep.

He is said to have changed his mind at short notice.

He and his daughter are said to have attended a festival organized by the Kremlin before the attack.

The Russian police are now investigating.

The authorities have not yet commented on this.

Russia: Far-right Alexander Dugin known as "Putin's Brain".

Alexander Dugin is considered an influential advisor to Vladimir Putin.

He is a prominent representative of the neo-racist theory, according to which Russia must become a great empire again.

In the right-wing extremist scene, he is considered to be very well connected.

Dugin rose to international prominence

in the 1990s as a writer for the far-right newspaper

In it he published, among other things, a manifesto entitled “The Great War of the Continents”.

In it he revealed his idea of ​​Russia's dominance over the West.

Dugin has appeared as a commentator on Russian state television several times in the past.

Among other things, he was nicknamed "Putin's brain".

The

once saw him in an analysis as the Kremlin's strategist in the Ukraine war.

Dugin's allegedly killed daughter, Daria Dugina, is said to have also followed the right-wing extremist ideology.

(tu/cs/mse/na with dpa/AFP)