Daria Dugina assassinated in Moscow car bombing

[majorhavoc]

https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/20/europe/darya-dugina-killed-car-explosion-alexander-dugin-russia-intl-hnk/index.html

Not exactly equating this with the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand. But it'll be an incident like this that could well ignite the powder keg that widens the Ukrainian war. Looks like the intended target may have been her father, widely seen as Putin's principal philosophical influence on his vision for Pax-Russia. If so, this was a major tactical blunder if Kiev is behind this, IMHO.

Suffice it to say if Putin wasn't already livid about how his "special military operation" was going, he sure as hell is now.

[Raptor]

Yes this is not good. I am sure they would have preferred the father,but she may have been a softer target.

Sometimes hurting the people you love is more devastating.

IMO I think the actors accomplished their goal.

[sheddi]

The alternative POV is that, if Ukraine was going to start an assassination campaign in Moscow, neither Dudin nor Dudina would be likely first targets.

I read elsewhere that the Toyota Landcruiser that exploded had been converted to run on LPG (propane), with the suggestion that the explosion could be accidental.

[12_Gauge_Chimp]

Part of me wonders if the Russkies may have assassinated Daria themselves and wanted to make it appear the Ukrainians did it.

Given what I know of Russia and their propaganda, this strikes me as a possibility.

There's also the possibility that the explosion could've been accidental due to the recent conversion of the vehicle to run on propane. A poorly done conversion could be at fault here instead of something more sinister.

[EBuff75]

It would seem that she was driving her father's car and that this was a last-second change, so it was likely that he was the intended target:  https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-62621509

[sheddi]

Now we've got a Russian dissident claiming it was the work of Russian partisans:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/aug/21/ex-russian-mp-claims-russian-partisans-responsible-for-moscow-car-bomb

A former member of Russia's Duma who was expelled for anti-Kremlin activities has claimed that Russian partisans were allegedly behind a car bomb which blew up the daughter of one of Vladimir Putin's close political allies on the outskirts of Moscow.

Speaking in Kyiv, where he is based, Ilya Ponomarev alleged the explosion on Saturday evening was the work of the National Republican Army, which he claimed was an underground group working inside Russia and dedicated to overthrowing the Putin regime.

The Guardian has not verified the authenticity of Ponomarev's claims. Russian commentators have blamed Ukraine for the attack, a claim Kyiv strongly denies.

"This action, like many other partisan actions carried out on the territory of Russia in recent months, was carried out by the National Republican Army (NRA)," Ponomarev said. He was speaking in a 7pm broadcast on February Morning, a Russian-language opposition TV channel he launched in Kyiv earlier this year.

He added: "A momentous event took place near Moscow last night. This attack opens a new page in Russian resistance to Putinism. New – but not the last."

Ilya Ponomarev isn't the most credible source, but I guess it's worth considering?

[flybynight]

Putin to Start War in Moldova 'the Moment They Reach Transnistria'

https://www.newsweek.com/putin-start-war-moldova-moment-they-reach-transnistria-expert-1733508

[Mr. E. Monkey]

Putin to Start War in Moldova 'the Moment They Reach Transnistria'

So...sometime after Hell freezes over.