Daughter of ‘Putin’s Brain’ Killed in Car Blast

• The daughter of an influential Russian intellectual was killed in a car explosion on Saturday night.
• Daria Dugina died at the scene after her car caught fire after the explosion.
• Her father, the ultranationalist philosopher Alexander Dugin, is often referred to as “Putin’s brain”.

The daughter of a prominent Russian political philosopher commonly referred to as “Putin’s brain” died in a car explosion on Saturday night, investigators said Sunday, state news agency TASS reported.

Daria Dugina, the daughter of nationalist activist Alexander Dugin, died at the scene after the Toyota Land Cruiser Prado she was driving exploded near the village of Bolshie Vyazimy outside Moscow, TASS reported.

According to a branch of the Investigative Committee of the Moscow region, the explosion was caused by a bomb planted in the vehicle, according to AP.

Dugina was returning home from a literature and music festival where her father had been invited to speak when the explosion occurred, The Daily Beast reported.

TASS reports that the car that caught fire immediately after the explosion belonged to Dugin. He was supposed to be traveling in the vehicle but at the last moment he got into another car, according to The Daily Beast.

This, in particular, led Andrei Krasnov, head of the Russky Horizont movement and a friend of the family, to speculate that the explosion was an assassination attempt on Duzhin, TASS reported.

Investigators have opened a criminal case against Dugina’s death, TASS reports. Forensic and explosive experts as well as investigators are visiting the site, the country’s state news agency said.

Dugina, 29, was a vocal supporter of Russia’s involvement in Ukraine, the Daily Beast reported. This year, she was hit with U.S. sanctions for her contribution to an article arguing that Ukraine would be “disappeared” if it joins NATO, CNN reported.

Her father, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, espoused an anti-Western, extremist philosophy that is at the core of Russian politics, BBC News reported.

Over the years, the media has repeatedly called Dujin “Putin’s brain.” His philosophy shaped Putin’s expansionist policy, leading to the invasion of Ukraine, the news outlet reported.

Dugin was released in 2010. In 2015, he was sanctioned by the US for Russia’s annexation of Crimea.