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NRA behind bomb attack?

Journal by quietus

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.

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  • (Score: 2) by quietus on Tuesday August 23 2022, @02:41PM (3 children)

    by quietus (6328) on Tuesday August 23 2022, @02:41PM (#1268113) Journal

    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.

    A source close to the presidential administration’s domestic policy team admitted to Meduza on August 21 that he’d only learned of Daria Dugina’s existence from the news about her death.

    ...

    Other individuals with knowledge of the Putin administration reject speculation published in the Western press that Alexander Dugin has ever “advised” the president or any senior national defense officials, though some sources say he does have contact with high-ranking officials in Russia’s Federal Security Service.

    Dugin’s relationship with prominent religious figures is complicated, as well, though he is rumored to enjoy financial support from Konstantin Malofeev, a devout reactionary who values “empire and statehood above Orthodoxy,” said one source who knows the oligarch. Malofeev allegedly hired “political technologists” to promote himself publicly as a “Russian Donald Trump, advised by Alexander Dugin,” but the Kremlin has ensured that the campaign remains a flop. In fact, multiple sources told Meduza that Dugin’s collaboration with Malofeev only further proves his lack of clout with Russia’s leadership.

    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?

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  • (Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday August 23 2022, @03:05PM (2 children)

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday August 23 2022, @03:05PM (#1268118) Journal

    Maybe the key here is the second person: why should the existence of a second victim need to be kept out of the news?

    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)

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 23 2022, @04:06PM (#1268126)

      > > 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

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 23 2022, @10:01PM (#1268174)

        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 anywhere these days,

        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.