Who Was Darya Dugina? Russian Nationalist's Daughter Posthumously Awarded Order Of Courage

After Darya Dugina's demise, President Vladimir Putin posthumously awarded her the Order of Courage. Darya Dugina died on 20 August, in a car-bomb attack.

Putin condemned the vile, cruel crime and accused Ukraine of the attack. Dugina's death has been quite controversial as Russia allegedly blamed Ukraine for such high profile attack, but Ukrainian Officials dismissed allegations citing that "We don't work this way. "Instead, Ukraine blamed internal Russian power struggles between various political factions for the attack. 

Who was Darya Dugina?

Darya Dugina was born on 15 December 1992 in Moscow, Russia. Dugina received her formal education from Moscow State University. Her father Alexander Dugin was head of sociology and international relations at the time. She also worked as an intern at Bordeaux Montaigne University, France, specialising in Ancient Greek philosophy. 

 Alexander Dugin is called a Russian nationalist and Darya 's mother is a philosopher, Natalya Melentyeva. Alexander Dugin is a political theorist with expansionist ideas of a New Russia or Novorossiya. President Vladimir Putin's annexation of Crimea in 2014 is said to be influenced by Alexander Dugina's philosophy of Novorossiya. Dugin's daughter advocated his philosophy too.

Dugina was a high-profile journalist. She worked as a commentator for a Russian nationalist TV channel and used her pen name- Daria Platonova. The 29-year-old after graduating worked for International Eurasian Movement as a political commentator. The Eurasian Movement consists of Russian orthodoxy with elements of National Bolshevism and was founded by Alexander Dugin.  

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She was appointed as chief editor of a website called United World International, allegedly owned by Yevgeny Prigozhin, an ally of Putin. Dugina wrote for pro-Kremlin media outlets, including RT and Tsargrad. The United States and the United Kingdom placed her under sanctions, citing her as a frequent and high-profile contributor of disinformation concerning Ukraine.

The right-wing father's ideas shaped Dugina's views about Russia's politics. She believed in his theory of New Russia and the war against Ukraine. In fact, Dugina was a proactive supporter of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Dugina showed her support for Russian troops by visiting occupied Mariupol and Donetsk.