The daughter of the "Putin think tank" was killed by the bomb, who is the black hand? How does it affect the situation?

On the evening of August 20, Russian local time, a violent explosion broke the calm outside Moscow and also triggered a shock in international public opinion. A car driven by Russian journalist and political scientist Darya Dukina exploded and caught fire in the Okinzovo district of Moscow Oblast, killing Heronne on the spot. A preliminary Investigation by the Russian side revealed that the vehicle was loaded with explosives and was a "planned criminal incident of a hired homicide nature." ”

Some analysts speculate that the attack may have originally targeted Dukina's father, Dukin, who is known as "Putin's think tank", only to avoid the disaster because of the latter's temporary change of car. Pro-Kremlin figures have pointed the finger at Ukraine, and the Ukrainian side has firmly denied acting as a "black hand behind the scenes." The New York Times pointed out that the truth of the current events is confusing, and it has injected new uncertainty into the Russian-Ukrainian conflict that has lasted for nearly six months.

The father witnessed the death of his daughter

On the 20th, Dukin's father and daughter participated in an event in the western suburbs of Moscow, and Dukin gave a speech on "Tradition and History". After the event, he initially wanted to leave in a car with his daughter, but at the last minute changed his mind and took another car. The daughter left in her father's Toyota Land Cruiser SUV around 9 p.m.

However, no one expected that after only about 10 minutes, tragedy would happen. Dukina's Toyota exploded on the Mozhaysk Highway, hitting a fence after losing control, and debris was strewn all over the road. Dukina was thrown to the tarmac by a shock wave and died on the spot. The car was also engulfed in flames and left only the skeleton.

All witnesses felt the astonishing power of the explosion, and the glass of the nearby building was clanged. According to the Russian "Izvestia", Du jin's car was tailing his daughter at the time, and he witnessed the incident and became one of the first people to arrive at the scene.

Images and videos circulating on Russian social media showed a man who appeared to be Du jin pacing back and forth with his hand over his head near a Toyota vehicle engulfed in flames. Political scientist Sergei Markov confirmed that Dugin was taken to hospital after the incident.

The Russian Federation Investigation Commission said on the 21st that according to the preliminary investigation report, the bombing was a murder planned by criminals. The bomb was mounted under the driver's seat and had a power of about 400 grams of TNT. The case is still under investigation.

Former lawyer and investigator Maxim Karinoff told Izvestia that the explosive device could have detonated at a distance and would make the investigators' job very difficult. "You can make a phone call at any time, and the perpetrator may be in another city, or even another country... The chances of solving such cases are slim. ”

Russian media also noticed that the Toyota car driven by Du jinna was parked in the parking lot prepared by the event organizers for the guests on the same day. However, the surveillance of the parking lot was broken, and the vehicles entering and leaving did not go through security checks. Considering that the vehicle was parked for a long time, the criminals took the opportunity to plant more than enough time to plant the bomb.

Who is the father and daughter

As soon as the bombing came out, it quickly occupied the headlines of the Western media. The reason is that the identity of the deceased is not simple - Dukina is the daughter of the famous Russian thinker and public activist Dukin, and Dukin is recognized by the West as "Putin's think tank", laying the theoretical foundation for Russia to launch a special military operation against Ukraine.

With long hair and a gray beard, Dugin is one of Russia's most famous theorists. Born into a high-ranking military family in 1962, he has since written for far-right newspapers.

The Guardian said Dugin's worldview was most clearly articulated in his 1997 book, The Foundations of Geopolitics, marking his shift from dissident to a conservative establishment.d'. The book proposes to revitalize Russian influence through geopolitical expansion, alliances, and integration. The book, which is about 600 pages long, has also become a textbook for Russian military academies.

Arguments and Facts reported that Dugin was known for his strong anti-Western and "neo-Eurasianist" views, while his main political activities revolved around Russia's dream of building a Eurasian superpower, working to integrate Russia and other former Soviet republics into the new Eurasian Union. He also participated in the organization of the Eurasian Party and the creation of the Eurasian Youth League.

Russian media said that Dukin served as an adviser to the chairman of the State Duma in 1998, and since then he has also served as a member of the State Duma Expert Advisory Committee, and has close relations with the Russian military and political high-level. He is also well-known in academic circles, working at Moscow University from 2009 to 2014, as an honorary professor at Eurasian State University in Kazakhstan, and was hired as a senior researcher by the Institute of Chinese Studies of Fudan University in 2018.

However, there are different views on Dukin's weight in Russia's decision-making hierarchy.

Some media have portrayed him as the "national teacher" of Russian President Vladimir Putin, one of the shapers and mysterious promoters of Russia's foreign policy at the highest level. For example, the BBC believes that Dukin's anti-Western, nationalist philosophy has become the main political ideology in Russia, especially on the Issue of Ukraine. But other media outlets don't think so — the New York Times notes that Mr. Dugin's direct ties to Russia's top brass are unclear.

In a 2014 interview, Mr. Dugin said he was "unfamiliar" with the Russian president, "Arguments and Facts," Mr. Dukin wrote. In addition, his dismissal from Moscow University for controversial remarks also shows his lack of support at the government level. Russia Today television argues that the so-called "master of shadow puppets" is considered a relatively marginal figure in Russia, and some of Dugin's views are considered controversial even in nationalist circles. Although he has served as an adviser to several politicians, he has never been officially recognized by the Kremlin. Still, the Kremlin found a place for Mr. Duggin through state media, sometimes adopting his ideology and sometimes using him to balance more radical nationalist appeals, the Guardian said.

Some public opinion found that in an article on August 20 last year, Du jin had "rewritten" a famous quote by the German philosopher Nietzsche. Nietzsche's exact words were: "Those who cannot kill you will eventually make you stronger." However, Du jin's "rewriting" is quite pessimistic: "Those who can't kill me will eventually kill others." A year later, Du jin's words became a slur, and disaster befell her daughter.

Dukina, who died in the incident, is 29 years old and popular at a young age. As a big fan of her father's theory, she was often active on radio, television and other occasions, giving radical speeches in support of Russia's military operations against Ukraine. She also appeared in Donbass, Donetsk and other regions, interviewed under the name of "Darya Platonova". This fall, as one of the co-authors, Dukina's collection of short stories is about to be published. The main subjects depicted in the novel are participants and witnesses to the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, including soldiers, war correspondents, volunteers, etc.

Both Dukin and his daughter are on the Western sanctions list. Dukin, who has been described by the United States and the West as a "far-right nationalist" and a "spiritual guide" of Russia's action against Ukraine, was "honorably listed" as early as 2014. Dukina was sanctioned by the United States and Britain this year.

Who is the murderer?

Although the incident is still under investigation, public opinion can't wait to guess "who the murderer is". Basically, 4 opinions are formed.

The first is to point the finger at Ukraine. This view is held by mostly pro-Kremlin figures.

The leader of the Donetsk region, Pushrin, and the pro-Russian zaporizhia region government representative Rogov both linked the incident to the Ukrainian side, which believed that the terrorists of the Kiev regime wanted to eliminate Dukin but killed his daughter.

The Izvestia newspaper quoted analysts as saying that on the eve of Ukraine's Independence Day on August 24, the Kiev regime needed some kind of victory. They were unable to launch a military offensive and organized a series of terrorist attacks.

Political analyst Svetov told Russia Today television that since the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, there have been many assassinations and attacks against Russian people or pro-Russian forces, including bomb threats against the mayor of Mariupol (after the city was controlled by the Russian side, Russia appointed a new mayor). The pro-Ukrainian forces are hoping to "intimidate those who support special military operations against Ukraine."

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zakharova said that if the clues of the investigation point to Ukraine, then it will show that Kiev is pursuing a policy of "state terrorism".

In response to the Russian accusations, Ukraine has left out its involvement, and Podoriak, adviser to the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, said that Ukraine is not a criminal country, let alone a terrorist country.

The second is that this may be an internal power struggle between "various political factions" in Russia. Most of the people who hold this view are supportive ukrainians. Ilya Bonomayov, former vice-president of the Russian State Duma who became a citizen of Ukraine in 2019, said Russia's "National Republican Army" was responsible for the bombing.

The third is that this may have been planned by those who supported Russia's military operations against Ukraine in order to force Putin to escalate the military operations. Because with the losses caused by the war, those who support military operations in Russia are being criticized and pressured.

The fourth view does not exclude that the case was an isolated incident against Dukina. A volunteer named "Tatarsky" told Arguments and Facts that Dukina had just driven away from the Toyota and had exploded, and that as long as it detonated a few minutes earlier, there could be more victims, so it was not excluded that the target of the assassination was Dukina herself. The perpetrator knew she was the daughter of a "famous thinker" who "wanted us to live in pain and fear."

How is the situation developing?

It is unclear what impact the events will have on the russian-Ukrainian conflict situation. But the Washington Post believes that the incident may create a new flashpoint for the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. As Ukraine celebrates Independence Day on August 24, the battle between the two sides is intensifying.

The New York Times argues that while Ukraine has the ability to attack pro-Russian officials in "Russian-controlled zones" near the front lines (there have been multiple incidents this year), there is no indication that it will launch bold attacks so close to the Russian capital. The article reads that the place where Dukina was killed was on the outskirts of the city, but it was relatively prosperous and was home to a large number of villas of the Russian ruling class. If it is really proved that it is the work of the Ukrainian forces, then it can be said that The death of Dukina has opened a new chapter in the history of political assassination in Russia. The attack will also inject new uncertainty into the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.

Russian analyst Konstantin Karachev believes that certain forces are clearly making plans to exacerbate the situation in Ukraine, and that committing such brazen crimes in the heart of Russia may be part of the plan. But at the same time, experts warned all those shocked by the incident not to "rush to react" or to try to "rush to retaliate" because it could complicate the situation even more.

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Column Editor-in-Chief: Yang Liqun Text Editor: Yang Liqun Caption Source: IC photo Image Editor: Xiang Jianying

Source: Author: Zhang Quan