On August 21st, 2022, a screenshot of an article by the Russian state-controlled publication RIA Novosti was shared on Facebook (1,2). The screenshot alleged that according to the preliminary version of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation, the murder of Daria Dugina was planned by the State Security Service of Georgia.
The screenshots disseminated on Facebook are fabricated. An article with similar content cannot be found on the RIA Novosti website, not to mention the outlet uses a different font for the titles. Russian Federal Security Service has not made an official statement regarding the murder of Daria Dugina, and various Russian officials have linked Dugina’s murder to Ukraine.
RIA Novosti did not publish information of similar kind regarding the murder of Daria Dugina, the daughter of the Russian philosopher and ideologist of the “Russian World” Aleksandr Dugin. Notably, the font of the text used on the distributed screenshots does not match the font used by the RIA website.
The Federal Security Service of Russia has not made an official statement regarding the murder of Daria Dugina. The case was handed over to the Central Office of the Russian Investigative Committee. According to the Investigative Committee, Dugina’s murder was ordered and pre-planned, although, at the moment, the agency has not accused specific persons or other state agencies of the murder. Notably, various Russian officials link Dugina’s murder to Ukraine. According to Leonid Slutsky, the Chairman of the International Affairs Committee of the Russian Duma, Dugina was killed because of Ukrainian terrorism, “Ukrterror”. The spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia, Maria Zakharova, noted that if there are “Ukrainian traces” in Dugina’s murder, it will be considered a policy of “state terrorism” on the part of Kyiv. Denis Pushilin, the de-facto leader of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic, was one of the first to accuse Ukraine of Dugina’s murder. According to him, “terrorists of the Ukrainian regime” are responsible for the murder, who wanted to kill Daria Dugina’s father, Aleksandr Dugin.
Russian partisan group – the “National Republican Army” took responsibility for the murder of Daria Dugina. The group’s manifesto was distributed by the Russian opposition politician and former Duma deputy Ilya Ponomarev. With the manifesto, the “National Republican Army” declared a fight against Putin’s regime and the actors connected with it, and set the goal of “stopping the destruction of Russia and its neighbours.”
Daria Dugina openly supported Russia’s war in Ukraine. She was in Donbas many times and wrote stories from the occupied Mariupol. She is the co-author of Kniga Z [Book Z], a propaganda book about the Russia-Ukraine war. In July, Great Britain imposed sanctions on Dugina for spreading disinformation about the Russia-Ukraine war. Before that, in March, the US also imposed sanctions on her. Daria Dugina is the daughter of Kremlin propagandist far-right philosopher Aleksandr Dugin and was an active supporter of her father’s philosophy.
About Aleksandr Dugin
Aleksandr Dugin is the founder of the Eurasia Movement and a far-right philosopher. Eurasianism of Dugin advocates Russia’s expansion, its primary spiritual and political role on the Eurasian continent and is based on the orthodox vision of Russia. In 2015-2016, Dugin served as the editor-in-chief of Tsargrad TV, a Russian conservative information-analytical TV channel launched in 2015 by Russian oligarch Konstantin Malofeev, who supported the idea of restoring the Russian Empire.
Dugin believes that the Eurasian continent must be a sort of federation of countries under the leadership of Russia. Potential allies of the Eurasian project, in Dugin’s view, are white nationalists since they have traditionalist views. Because of his involvement in the Crimean conflict and actions against the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, the US put the philosopher on the list of sanctioned persons. It is worth mentioning that Dugin actively supports the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. On August 8th, 2008, during the interview with the Russian radio “Echo Moskvi,” Dugin proclaimed that Georgians were pursuing genocide against the Ossetian people. Later in 2010, he stressed that Georgia should not have the illusion of returning the lost territories. According to him, deepened ties with Russia are essential for Georgia not to lose any more territories.
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