Skip to content
Search
Close
SHOP
  • News
  • Analysis
  • Commentary
  • Essays
  • Interviews
  • Reviews
  • Tributes
  • Media
Menu
  • News
  • Analysis
  • Commentary
  • Essays
  • Interviews
  • Reviews
  • Tributes
  • Media
  • NEWS

Finger-Pointing Begins Over Murder of Darya Dugin

Moscow and Kyiv have accused each other of orchestrating the murder, while a previously unknown group has taken credit for the attack.
  • Robert Semonsen
  • — August 24, 2022
Moscow and Kyiv have accused each other of orchestrating the murder, while a previously unknown group has taken credit for the attack.
  • Robert Semonsen
  • — August 24, 2022

In the few days since the car bombing that took the life of Darya Dugina, the daughter of the prominent Russian philosopher Aleksandr Dugin, accusations abound over who orchestrated it, with Russia’s internal security agency, the FSB, pointing the finger at Ukraine, Kyiv blaming the Kremlin, and a previously unknown group—which may or may not exist—taking credit for the attack.

Some 36 hours after Saturday evening’s attack, which took place some 20 kilometers outside of Moscow, the FSB, the main successor agency to the Soviet Union’s KGB, claimed to have solved the murder, naming 44-year-old Natalya Vovk, an alleged member of the Ukrainian Secret Service (SBU), as the culprit. 

According to the FSB’s narrative, Vovk, a former member of the Azov Battalion turned spy, first arrived in Russia on 23 July 2022, together with her 12-year-old daughter. After renting an apartment in the same building that Darya Dugina had been living in Moscow, Vovk allegedly spent the next several weeks conducting surveillance, before she attended the Tradition Festival on August 20th, alongside Darya and her father, both of whom had been speakers and guests of honor.

The #FSB claims Ukraine is behind the Daria #Dugina's murder, releasing a video of a woman named Natalya Vovk, saying she escaped to #Estonia. pic.twitter.com/kw614He0Y9

— i24NEWS English (@i24NEWS_EN) August 22, 2022

That day, Vovk allegedly planted explosives under the driver’s seat of Dugin’s Land Cruiser Prado, before detonating them remotely as Dugina made her way home from the festival. 

Following the bombing, Vovk and her daughter then made their way through the Pskov Region where they exited Russia for Estonia, according to video surveillance footage released by Russian state media. 

“It has been established that the crime was prepared and committed by the Ukrainian special services,” the FSB said in a statement published by the state-run RIA Novosti.

The Ukrainian government, for their part, has repeatedly and vociferously denied any involvement in the killing of the 30-year-old journalist and political activist. “We don’t work in this way,” National Security and Defense Council Secretary Oleksiy Danilov said on Tuesday during a televised interview. 

Kyiv has not merely denied accusations, but they’ve taken it a step further, accusing the Kremlin of orchestrating the attack themselves. Mykhailo Podliak, an advisor to the Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, claimed in a tweet on Tuesday that the Kremlin—by killing Darya Dugina, who he describes as a “Russian propagandist”—accomplished four goals.

  1. Created a propagandist symbol by turning Dugina into a martyr
  2. Popularized the ideas of Aleksandr Dugin
  3. Intimidated other propagandists so that they would be more “obedient”
  4. Temporarily diverted attention from #RussiaIsATerroristState.

What did Kremlin achieve by eliminating Dugina?
1. Created a symbol of propaganda;
2. Popularized her father’s Nazi ideas;
3. Intimidated other propagandists for additional "obedience";
4. Shifted focus from #RussiaIsATerroristState.

Cui prodest – to whom is it a benefit?

— Михайло Подоляк (@Podolyak_M) August 23, 2022

Others like Illya Ponomarev, a former member of the Russian State Duma who now lives in exile, have claimed that the targeted killing was carried out by a previously unknown group calling themselves the National Republican Army (NRA). 

“This action, like many other actions of direct action on the territory of Russia in recent months, was carried out by the National Republican Army. We established contact with its fighters using our Rospartizan resource. The NRA fighters authorized me to read their manifesto,” Illya said.

In its manifesto, the NRA claims to be a group of Russian activists, military members, and politicians who are “now partisans and fighters” who fight “robbers and oppressors of the Russian people.” It remains unclear as to whether the group exists or not.

Robert Semonsen is a political journalist for The European Conservative. His work has been featured in various English-language news outlets in Europe and the Americas. He has an educational background in biological and medical science. His Twitter handle is @Robert_Semonsen.
  • Tags: Alexandr Dugin, car bombing, Darya Dugina, FSB, Robert Semonsen, Russo-Ukraine War

READ NEXT

Hungary Approves Finland’s NATO Accession

Tamás Orbán March 27, 2023

Israel on the Brink: Netanyahu’s Government Postpones Controversial Reform Bill

Tristan Vanheuckelom March 27, 2023

Muslim Elected Scottish First Minister and SNP Leader

Thomas O'Reilly March 27, 2023

IMPRESSUM

SUBSCRIPTION

LOG IN

PRIVACY POLICY

CONTACT

[email protected]

© The European Conservative 2023

  • Impressum
  • Privacy Policy
  • General Privacy Policy
  • Terms & Conditions

Made by DIGITALHERO

Issue 25, Winter 2023

  • News
  • Analysis
  • Commentary
  • Essays
  • Interviews
  • Reviews
  • Tributes
  • Media
Menu
  • News
  • Analysis
  • Commentary
  • Essays
  • Interviews
  • Reviews
  • Tributes
  • Media
Search

About

SHOP

JOBS & VACANCIES

Login