Russian authorities investigating blast that killed daughter of Putin ally

Russian authorities are investigating a blast in the outskirts of Moscow on Sunday that killed the daughter of a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin. 

The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation said in a statement that Daria Dugina, a journalist and political scientist, was killed after an explosive device that was planted under her Toyota Land Cruiser went off. 

Dugina was the daughter of Alexander Dugin, a political philosopher and an outspoken supporter of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

Dugin, who pushed a vision of Russia becoming more “powerful” and “aggressive,” has been featured on Russian state television and is described as “Putin’s brain” by many. 

U.S. officials hit Dugin with sanctions in March for his support of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, while Dugina was sanctioned for her work at a media outlet that the U.S. has said spreads disinformation. 

Dugina appeared on Russian nationalist network Tsargrad as a radio commentator and news anchor.

British officials imposed sanctions on Dugina last month, calling her a prominent “contributor of disinformation in relation to Ukraine and the Russian invasion of Ukraine on various online platforms,” The New York Times reported. 

Authorities said that both Dugin and his daughter were in attendance at a Russian nationalist festival called “Traditions” on Saturday before the blast. 

Officials in Ukraine have denied any responsibility for the blast.

“Ukraine certainly had nothing to do with yesterday’s explosion,” Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, said in a televised address on Sunday. “We are not a criminal state like the Russian Federation, much less a terrorist one.”