Russian media has accused the United States of orchestrating the "attack" that killed the daughter of Russian President Vladimir Putin's close ally.
"Daria Dugina’s death will likely rally the Russians who suspect Ukraine’s hand behind the attack," Rebekah Koffler, president of Doctrine & Strategy Consulting and former DIA intelligence officer, told Fox News Digital.
Dugina, journalist and daughter of Aleksander Dugin, died Saturday evening in an explosion while driving her car along the Mazhayskoye Highway in the Moscow region after leaving a music festival. Authorities have said an explosive device planted under the car went off, and officials moved quickly to declare it a "terrorist attack" and point blame at Ukrainians and Americans alike.
Ukrainian politician Denis Pushilin, leader of the separatists Donetsk People’s Republic, blamed the explosion on "terrorists of the Ukrainian regime, trying to kill Alexander Dugin."
But some have gone even further, such as political analyst Yegor Kholmogorov, who told the Russian outlet Pravda that the attack was "no doubt" prepared by U.S. and British intelligence services and carried out by "Ukrainian saboteurs." He claimed that Kyiv itself could not have planned such "daring" sabotage.
Dugin, one of Putin’s closest allies and nicknamed "Putin’s Brain," was also at the music festival and supposedly had intended to be with his daughter after leaving the event but changed his mind at the last minute.
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Some experts speaking to Russian media have described Dugin as holding a central role in Putin’s inner circle – one that allowed him to push an ideology upon which Putin based his entire invasion.
"Her father, Aleksander Dugin, is the mastermind of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine," Koffler explained, calling him a "symbol of the Russian World" for pushing his view of Eurasianism, which is vital to Putin’s entire basis for waging his war in Ukraine.
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"One cannot understand Putin’s thinking and why he is waging war on Ukraine without knowing about Dugin and Eurasianism. Putin’s doctrine and strategy are developed around this ideology, at the heart of which is the idea of the Russian exceptionalism," she continued. "Similar to the idea of American exceptionalism, the sense of uniqueness runs very deeply in the Russian psyche. It is because of this ideology, Eurasianism, that Putin will not stop his war on Ukraine."
Vladimir Gutenev, a member of the Duma, told Russian outlet RG that Aleksander Dugin’s ideas are widespread in Russia, calling Dugina’s death "a strike on the ideological front" and saying that Russia must provide a "quick" response.
Andrey Klishas, head of the Federation Council Committee on State Construction, echoed the sentiment, saying that anyone involved in the "attack" should "be destroyed."
"The fact that a blow was struck against Alexander Dugin suggests that our enemies are most afraid of the spiritual component of our struggle," he told RG. "This struggle is the most important thing."
