Who is Alexander Dugin, the father of Daria Dugin who died in a car bombing?
While the news is focused on the terrible tragedy that cost the life of Daria Dugin, a young girl who was a collateral victim of the power struggles currently taking place in Eastern Europe, let’s try to understand who Alexander Dugin is…
Who is Alexander Dugin?
Wrongly presented as a new Rasputin (Grigori Efimovitch Rasputin was a rather special “adviser” to Tsar Nicholas II), Alexander Dugin is a Russian ideologist considered to be the master thinker of National-Bolshevism. That is to say that he advocates a great Russia nostalgic of the power of the former USSR while adding to it nationalist and racialist theses of certain Nazi movements. Aleksandr Dugin is particularly popular in military circles, as his book “Fourth Political Theory” is compulsory reading for officers.
Why is Alexander Dugin not a new Rasputin?
Because this rumor is unfounded. If, indeed, there is a small physical resemblance in the goatee, Aleksandr Dugin does not hold any official position and is not close to Vladimir Putin. He is close to some political parties, including the presidential party, but he does not hold any position as an advisor or minister.
Founder of Eurasism
Together with his colleague Nikolai Starikov, Aleksandr Dugin theorized the notion of “Eurasism” which is a concept that encompasses Eurasia (Europe, Russia, Asia) with a Russian dominance over the European part and part of Asia.
For the proponents of Eurasism, Russia would have more links with Asia than with the West (which is not completely false, their immense territory occupying a large part of Asia with strongly typified peoples). And Russia would have for vocation to make the link between Europe and Asia, implying in fact a detachment of Europe with the West.
These theories have led Alexander Dugin to support, for more than 15 years, the attachment of Crimea to Russia (and thus its annexation in 2014 with the war that followed). And, more recently, to support the war led in Ukraine by Vladimir Putin’s Russia.
Back to the attack on Daria Douguine
At the time of this tragic event, Alexander Dugin and his daughter Daria were returning from a Russian folk festival. Daria got into the car her father was supposed to be in when he left in another vehicle for unknown reasons.
It is almost certain that the explosion of Daria’s car was in fact aimed at assassinating Alexander Dugin. Ukraine denies any involvement in this attack but still censors the books “Ukraine. My war. Geopolitical Diary” and “Russia’s Eurasian Revenge”. His daughter was targeted by British sanctions because of her support for the war in Ukraine.
The claim of the attack
This claim should be taken with a grain of salt. Indeed, it was relayed by Ilya Ponomarev, who is a former member of the Russian Duma who crossed over to the Ukrainian side after being the only Russian MP to vote against the annexation of Crimea in 2014.
He has since founded a TV channel broadcasting from Kiev which now allows him to relay the claim of the so far unknown Russian group “National Republican Army”. This group presents itself as a terrorist group in opposition to Vladimir Putin and his war in Ukraine.
