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On August 20, Daria Dugina, daughter of an extreme-right ultra-nationalist Russian ideologue, was killed in a car bomb explosion. Speculation abounds who was behind the bomb attack, with the Kremlin claiming it was an act of Western-sponsored Ukrainian terrorism.
Now Russians-in-excile news site meduza has published an intriguing interview with Ilya Ponomarev, a former (Russian) Duma lawmaker who claims to be fighting on the Ukrainian side. According to him, the attack was an action by a resistance group within Russia calling themselves the National Republican Association (NRA).
In how far Ponomarev is a reliable source, with his family having (had) extensive connections within the Russian power elite, is unclear, but two items sprang to my attention in the interview. First is that he mentions the detail that Dugina wasn't the only victim, and that there was another, unreported, person killed too.
The second is that Ponomarev used to work closely with Vladimir Surkov.
Surkov is a long-term Putin associate, the man behind Russia's so-called "managed democracy". The last week of April this year he suddenly got house arrest, being accused of corruption and looting in Donbass, of all places (Surkov was already fired of his Kremlin job in 2020 and has held no official positions since, let alone had any presence in Ukraine's Donbass territory).
The week after Surkov's arrest, an odd article appeared in the online version of Pravda, which is owned by another associate of Surkov. That article heavily criticized the Putin and Medvedev administrations, calling them parasites clinging to power by any and all means.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by khallow on Tuesday August 23 2022, @01:37PM (16 children)
Second, Ponomarev gives the impression that the attack blew up that car remotely with visual confirmation of the targets before they were killed (even though mistaken on the second person). That's pretty skilled, if true. Combined with the communications prep he described and the photos allegedly took afterward, indicates the attackers may have had experience with this.
So if it is a domestic attack, it could be some combination of Russian crime, intelligence, or military, any of which would have the skills needed.
(Score: 2) by quietus on Tuesday August 23 2022, @02:41PM (3 children)
Indeed, Dugina seems a peculiar target -- another article [meduza.io] on Meduza indicates that her father is mainly (in)famous in Western circles, but his influence is rather negligible, not to say nil, in Russia.
Maybe the key here is the second person: why should the existence of a second victim need to be kept out of the news? IF Ponomarev's version is right, why doesn't the NRA name the second victim?
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday August 23 2022, @03:05PM (2 children)
Can't say without more info, obviously. But it might be some sort of government security - a nobody, but a nobody that the Russian government won't officially talk about.
Also the bit about Malofeev provides someone with a motive for this murder. Namely, Malofeev may be highly dissatisfied with the service he received from the two Dugins to the point of carrying out this attack.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 23 2022, @04:06PM (1 child)
> > why should the existence of a second victim need to be kept out of the news?
More speculation--it could be as simple as the second person was of no account. My impression is that an average human life doesn't count for much in Russia these days, so unless you are a "somebody" (or related?) that can garner interest in the press, you aren't worth mentioning. Dugina was driving home from some event, maybe someone needed a ride?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 23 2022, @10:01PM
FTFY.
Maybe it was just someone who lost a loved one. I am all in favor of assassinating the assholes who get "average human lives" killed in their shitty little war games.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Tuesday August 23 2022, @05:29PM (10 children)
Is this the same woman who was vociferously anti-war recently?
It's not like Russia has any problems tossing their own trash out the window....
(Score: 2) by NotSanguine on Tuesday August 23 2022, @09:15PM (9 children)
Not so much.
Dugina was outspoken in her support of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, The Washington Post reported, and a proponent of her father’s geopolitical theories. [yahoo.com]
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Tuesday August 23 2022, @09:23PM (8 children)
I'm actually in favor of allowing certain political assassinations because I think we would get into a lot less wars that way!
However, going after people's family is definitely well beyond that, and probably demonstrates why we just need to ban them in the first place.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 23 2022, @10:05PM
No it is not.
Those fuckers just call it "collateral damage" when they kill unrelated civilians. Time to let them know it goes both ways.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 24 2022, @01:28AM (6 children)
The history of the beginnings of WWI argue that other way. As so many other wars. Perhaps we need a trial by combat of champions, instead of assassination and warfare. You know, a fair fight, winner take all.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 24 2022, @03:19AM
This!!! Convert war to sport, at the highest levels, with everything at stake on the champions.
If Russia thinks it should own the Donbas, challenge Ukraine for it. Ukraine gets to pick the discipline. Some new world org officiates (can't be the Int'l Olympic Committee, too corrupt). If Ukraine had any sense they would choose a sport where performance enhancing drugs don't help--given the Russian experience in this field...
(Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday August 24 2022, @03:23AM
(Score: 0, Troll) by Runaway1956 on Thursday August 25 2022, @02:37AM (3 children)
Champions my ass. I want to see the respective heads of state walking out onto the dueling field. Putin vs Trump would have been good for a few laughs, I think. Putin vs Joe Burden? Putin would tie both hands behind his back, and kick Joe's ass anyway. It would be a shame to have a presidential funeral before the midterms, but I could live with that.
With those kind of stakes, a lot fewer incompetent idiots would consider running for office!
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 26 2022, @01:46AM (2 children)
Let me guess, you support Jesse Ventura for President!
(Score: 1) by Runaway1956 on Saturday August 27 2022, @01:03AM (1 child)
Is Jesse still a Green? I've often said that we need more parties involved in US politics. If he were on the ticket, I may very well vote for him. Depending on his latest scandals, his current stances on various issues, and just how much the Dems hated him, yeah, I can see me voting for him. Remember, I haven't voted for either a Democrat nor a Republican for president in a long, long time.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 30 2022, @06:48PM
" Depending on his latest scandals, his current stances on various issues, and just how much the Dems hated him, yeah, I can see me voting for him. Remember, I haven't voted for either a Democrat nor a Republican for president in a long, long time."
Lol
(Score: 3, Informative) by RS3 on Tuesday August 23 2022, @09:24PM
Right after the bomb attack I happened to search a few news sites, and several said that both Daria and her father Alexander were at a festival (music?) and left at the same time.
Very last-minute they switched cars, so it's likely the bomb was intended for Alexander, not Daria.
https://metro.co.uk/2022/08/23/alexander-dugin-mourners-at-daughter-daria-duginas-funeral-after-bomb-17231983/ [metro.co.uk]
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/8/22/moscow-says-ukraine-behind-killing-of-darya-dugina [aljazeera.com]
https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/news/russia-investigates-murder-daughter-key-095829449.html [yahoo.com]
That's what they're saying anyway.