Darya Aleksandrovna Dugina (; 15 December 1992 – 20 August 2022), also known under the pen name Daria Platonova (), was a Russian journalist, political scientist, and activist. She was the daughter of Aleksandr Dugin, a supporter of Vladimir Putin and a far-right political philosopher, whose support for the Russian invasion of Ukraine she shared.
She was killed in August 2022 in a car bombing on the outskirts of Moscow.
Early life and education
Darya Dugina was born on 15 December 1992 in Moscow, Russia. She was the daughter of Aleksandr Dugin and his second wife, philosopher Natalya Melentyeva. In 2012/2013, while studying at Moscow State University, she was an intern at Bordeaux Montaigne University, specializing in Ancient Greek philosophy. Her MSU degree "focused on the political philosophy of late Neo-Platonism".
Career and activism
After university, she worked as a journalist, writing for the state-controlled media outlet RT and the pro-Kremlin conservative channel Tsargrad, using the pen name Daria Platonova. She was affiliated with the International Eurasian Movement, and worked for them as a political commentator.
According to the United States Department of the Treasury, which added her to the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List on 3 March 2022, she was the chief editor of a disinformation website called United World International which states it is owned by Putin ally Yevgeny Prigozhin, who also controls the state-backed Wagner Group. At the same time, she served as a press secretary of her father.
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
Dugina was an outspoken supporter of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. In particular, she claimed that the war crimes against Ukrainian civilians by the Russian army during the invasion were staged. She mentioned that the war in Ukraine "serves to break the bridges of interaction between Russia and Europe, a struggle between two worldviews." In June 2022, she visited occupied Donetsk and Mariupol.
Dugina visited the Azovstal plant in Mariupol, where she collaborated with British journalist Graham Phillips, who also worked for Russian state media. On 4 July 2022, she was sanctioned by the British government, which accused her of being a "frequent and high-profile contributor of disinformation in relation to Ukraine and the Russian invasion of Ukraine on various online platforms." She responded by saying that she is an ordinary journalist and should not have been sanctioned.
Killing
Dugina was killed on 20 August 2022, when her car exploded on Mozhayskoye Highway in the settlement of Bolshiye Vyazyomy outside Moscow around 9:45 p.m. local time. She was driving to Moscow after attending the annual festival "Tradition," which describes itself as a family festival for art lovers.
The "Tradition" festival is held at the Zakharovo estate, approximately north of Bolshiye Vyazyomy. Investigators said an explosive device was attached to the underside of the car. It is unclear whether she was targeted deliberately, or whether her father, who had been expected to travel with her but switched to another car at the last minute, was the intended target, or whether the intention might have been to kill both.
Claim of responsibility from National Republican Army
Ilya Ponomarev, a former member of Russia's State Duma now living in exile in Ukraine, claimed that a Russian partisan group was responsible for the attack, and that the hitherto unknown group calls itself National Republican Army (NRA) ().
Ponomarev statements about NRA involvement
Ponomarev claims the NRA is an underground group working inside Russia, dedicated to removing Putin from power. He has subsequently claimed it is a "network" of clandestine cells. In Ponomarev's narrative to the Kyiv Post, the group has previously carried out anonymous arson attacks on military induction centers, then shifted to targeting Dugin and Dugina as "something high-profile for which they could become well known." He elaborated that a contact in the group told him a week before the assassination to expect "something big," followed by instructions on the day of the event to "watch the news." Following news coverage of the assassination, Ponomarev claims that he was provided evidence of the group's responsibility.