Russian political scientist and ideologue Alexander Dugin delivers a speech during a memorial service for his daughter Darya Dugina, in Moscow, Russia, on August 23. (Maxim Shemetov/Reuters)
Alexander Dugin, a prominent Russian ultranationalist, said his daughter Darya Dugina died for his country, as he delivered an emotional speech at a memorial service in Moscow on Tuesday.
“She died for our victory, our Russian victory, for the sake of the Orthodoxy of our country, of our state,” he said.
Dugina, the editor of a Russian disinformation website, was killed in a car bomb outside Moscow on Saturday.
“From childhood, her first words, which of course we taught her, were Russia: our state, our people, our empire,” Dugin said at his daughter’s memorial.
“I wasn’t afraid, and the last thing he said, when we talked at the Festival of Tradition, he said to me, ‘Dad, I feel like a warrior, I feel like a hero. I want to be like that, me. I don’t want any other destiny. I want to be with my people, with my country,” Dugin said.
“In my last lecture, we were standing next to each other and I told him that our history is a constant battle of light and darkness. God and his adversary, and that we are now in this and our situation politics and our war in Ukraine, but not with Ukraine. This is also part of this war: Light and darkness,” he added.
Dugin said he “could feel how happy he was” after the Russian Federation awarded Dugina a posthumous order of courage in a decree signed by Putin on Monday.
The Russian president sent his condolences to Dugina’s family on Monday.
“A vile and cruel crime took the life of Darya Dugina, a bright and talented person with a true Russian heart: kind, loving, sympathetic and open. Journalist, scientist, philosopher, war correspondent, she served the people honestly, in the Motherland, demonstrated by deed what it means to be a patriot of Russia,” Putin said in a statement posted on the Kremlin’s Telegram channel.
Denis Pushilin, head of the Donetsk People’s Republic, also expressed his condolences and praised Dugina’s support for the Donbass region, saying he “fearlessly came to the burning cities of the republic to tell the world the truth about what is happening in our country.” in the remarks made on his behalf during the service.
Russia has blamed Ukrainian special services for Dugina’s murder, TASS reported on Monday.
Ukraine has denied any involvement in Dugina’s murder, calling Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) bogus claims.