When Dugina “turned onto the Mozhaiskoye highway near the village of Bolshiye Vyazemi, there was an explosion, the car immediately caught fire,” Krasnov told TASS. “It was completely engulfed in flames. He lost control because he was driving at high speed and flew to the opposite side of the road,” Krasnov added, as quoted by TASS. Images of the explosion’s aftermath began circulating on Russian social media on Saturday, appearing to show a vehicle on fire on the side of the road and smashed car parts strewn in the surrounding area. CNN is unable to independently verify the images. Krasnov told TASS that he knew Dugina personally and that the car she was traveling in belonged to her father. He believed that Alexander was the real target of the explosion, or possibly both. “It’s her father’s car,” Krasnov told TASS. “Dasha (Darya) drives another car, but she drove his car today, and Alexander went separately.” The senior Dugin is a far-right Russian writer and ideologue who is credited with being the architect or “spiritual guide” of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He is said to have significant influence on Russian President Vladimir Putin and is often described as “Putin’s mastermind”. Dugina, the daughter, was born in 1992 and studied Philosophy at Moscow State University, according to TASS. In March 2022, the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned Dugina for her contribution to an article on the United World International (UWI) website suggesting that Ukraine would be “lost” if admitted to the NATO. Dugina was the editor-in-chief of UWI.
