“A vile, cruel crime prematurely ended the life of Daria Dugina, a bright and talented person with a truly Russian heart. As a journalist, scientist, philosopher and military correspondent, she sincerely served the people and the Motherland, showing with her actions what a Russian patriot wants to mean.“ – Vladimir Putin[1]

On Saturday, August 20, 2022, news agencies around the world broke the news that Daria Dugin, the daughter of so-called “Putin ideologue” Oleksandr Dugin, had been killed in an attack that was apparently not aimed at her, and on his father. Yesterday was a month since the murder, and the sad event was forgotten. After 24 hours, the FSB put forward a version of the murder and that was it. It seems that further police investigation was not necessary, the blame was placed on Kyiv.

And yet I wonder why Daria Dugina had to die? Who used it? What was the real reason for using a theme that any serious crime film puts into the script? The FSB says that, in fact, the reason for the murder was revenge: Kyiv wanted Oleksandr Dugin dead, and that was it. Is this a sufficient and valid reason? Is Oleksandr Dugin such an important figure in the Kremlin?

I saw how the Ukrainians really killed generals, colonels and in general various military commanders present at the front. We also saw them kill Russian officials who were sent to take over certain administrative functions in Donbas, or certain key figures who were called traitors because they cooperated with the Russian army and the occupation authorities. But before Dugina, I did not see that they killed peaceful Russians even on the territory of the Russian Federation. Was the murder of Dugina a precedent, a so-called warning?

To avoid rhetorical questions, I decided to briefly recall the public findings of the FSB investigation as a starting point, and then try to review what has happened in the last month, which could give us, in a sense, a new perspective on the case.

FEDERAL JOB IS DANGEROUS DIKSIT

The investigation into the murder of Oleksandr Dugin by a car bomb of his daughter Daria Dugina was not the responsibility of the police – with forensics, detectives, evidence collection, witness interviews and databases, the involvement of forensic doctors and pyrotechnicians to draw their own conclusions based on investigations and examination, after all, all the cutlery – but to the special services of the FSB. Who didn’t need to go through the entire forensic procedure to conclude that Dugin’s daughter was killed by some assassin-spy sent by the Nazi government in Kyiv on a mission (revenge).

And everything should have developed like this: the criminal turned out to be Ukrainian Nataliya Pavlivna Vovk, nee Shaban, who entered Russia sometime in July accompanied by her 12-year-old daughter and stayed in an apartment near Daria. Dugin’s residence. From which the FSB officers concluded that – in the end – Vovk aimed at Dugin, and not at “Putin’s ideologue.”

An interesting aspect, let’s say, is a little different from the first popular version, namely that the target was Oleksandr Dugin, the owner of a car bombed, who in a few seconds changed his mind about going home and drove off. his daughter

The car did not explode while starting the engine, but somewhere near the victim’s house; from which it follows that the bomb was either launched remotely (but not by Vovko, who was already hundreds of kilometers from Moscow), or was programmed to trigger with a delay. We do not know, the FSB did not deal with such trifles as a thorough (perhaps independent) technical examination.

Natalia Vovk also had an accomplice, Bohdan Petrovych Tsyganenko, who also entered Russia at the end of July and left the day before the fatal day of the attack. No, it wasn’t Tsyganenko who pressed the button after Vovk bent down to slip the bomb under the car; both were already far away when the bomb exploded. Tsyganenko was a kind of courier who handed Vovka some documents and fake (Kazakh) car numbers, and that was it.

Natalia Vovk, having crossed the territory of Estonia, apparently somehow managed to leave this Baltic country and get to Vienna, the FSB explained. But it is unclear whether Vovk remained in Austria after being identified in Vienna or not, and whether the Russian Federation demanded her extradition or not. They didn’t say anything about Tsyganenko either. Practically since the beginning of September, the case has been closed for public disclosure.

The focus of the press is Natalya Pavlivna Vovk, who is reportedly married to Andrii Vovk, whom the Ukrainian authorities have listed as a collaborator with Russia, one of those responsible for organizing the referendum on Donbas independence in 2014.[2]

Therefore, network users carefully checked the data from the FSB report and raised a lot of questions: the car in which Vovk was allegedly moving around Moscow was simultaneously filmed by public space cameras in Kyiv; likewise, the “Azov battalion” ticket issued with a photo and in the name of Nataliya Vovk actually has the characteristics of the National Guard, etc.

In the absence of a credible police investigation into the case, only the FSB report, public opinion in the free world began to question whether the purpose of the secret police was really to hide the real criminals and the real purpose of Daria Dugina’s murder, rather than to find criminals.

And from here to the hypothesis that the murder of Daria was actually a special operation ordered by the Kremlin, there was only one step. What the authorities in Moscow have been in no hurry to deny for a month.

Based on the conclusions of the superficial FSB investigation, historian Mark Galeotti gave the following assessments: “She (Natalia Vovk, n.m), then carelessly headed for the border with Estonia and crossed it without any problems. Who knows, maybe this is true, but it also shows a rather serious failure of the Ministry of Internal Affairs[3] and the FSB. Ultimately, this is the crux of Russian nationalists’ criticism of Vladimir Putin: that despite his macho-managerial demeanor, he is actually a weak, indecisive, corrupt and incompetent champion of Russian interests.”[4]

ALEKSANDR DUGIN, PRAISE FATHER

I try to be as objective as possible in this analysis. I am also the father of a girl who is no longer a child, she is already a full-fledged woman, very close to Darina. Alexander is also not too far from my age, so mostly my empathy exercise holds up. And I think: would I have made peace with myself, knowing that I should have been in that killer car, and not my daughter?

Moreover, with all my beliefs – I think – as a parent I would really, really like to know who it was that killed my daughter and what his motives were? And if it turns out that she was the target and not me, not a day goes by that I don’t wonder why fate decided (by my decision!) that I should not be in that car and thus save her by sacrificing themselves, like any other parent for their child.

Either way, in light of this perspective, I cannot believe that Oleksandr Dugin can accept the conclusions of the FSB report or the fact that the investigation was practically stopped after this hasty report. But I am, of course, not a “Putin ideologue”, ready at any moment to sacrifice everything that is dear to me for the sake of “my tsar and the Russian Empire”, but just an ordinary person.

Oleksandr Dugin’s first public statement sounded like this[5]: “Russia’s enemies killed her secretly. But we, our people, cannot be defeated even by such unbearable blows. They wanted to break our will with bloody terror against the best and most vulnerable among us. But they will not achieve their goal. Our hearts desire more than revenge. This is too vile, not in Russian. We only need our victory… So please win!”

Oleksandr Dugin also made a speech at his daughter’s funeral, considering it necessary to say something similar[6]: “When Dasha was a child, perhaps her first words, which we taught her, of course, were , , , Daria sacrificed herself, and Alexander was proud of it. And why did he sacrifice himself? Because he really wanted “…people to defend our faith, our Orthodoxy, to love our Russian people.”

Exactly one month later, Oleksandr Dugin appeared before the media again, but not to remember and honor who his daughter Daria was, but to demand an escalation of the conflict in which the “Russian Empire” is involved.[7]: “The West will continue to attack us both from the outside, at the hands of armed and trained Ukrainian Nazis, and from the inside – at the hands of the still liberal fifth column. Whether it will come to the use of nuclear weapons is an open question. But the probability of nuclear Armageddon is increasing every day.”

Therefore, Dugin concluded, the “special operation launched in February” has ended, instead a large-scale war with the West has begun, and this war will definitely affect every Russian, so mobilization in the country seems inevitable.

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