Moscow car bombing victim officially identified

A criminal case has been launched over the death of the daughter of prominent Russian philosopher and political commentator Aleksandr Dugin, the Investigative Committee announced on Sunday morning, adding that a car bomb is suspected as the cause.

The woman, Darya Platonova, 30, has been officially confirmed as the victim of the explosion outside the Russian capital, the agency said in a statement.

According to investigators, a blast ripped through her Toyota Land Cruiser at around 9pm local time on Saturday as she was driving near the village of Bolshie Vyazemy in Moscow Region.

An explosive device presumably detonated inside the vehicle, which then caught fire. “The female driver, who was behind the wheel, has been killed on site,” the Investigative Committee said.

Journalist and political commentator Darya Platonova was the daughter of philosopher Aleksandr Dugin, who is often painted in the West as the ideologist of President Vladimir Putin’s foreign policy over the past decade.

However, in Russia, Dugin is viewed as a relatively marginal figure due to his often extreme anti-Western and ‘neo-Eurasian’ views. The 60-year-old has never been officially endorsed by the Kremlin.

READ MORE: Car blast kills daughter of Russian philosopher Dugin

On Saturday, the philosopher was giving a lecture at the ‘Tradition and History’ family festival, with his daughter attending as guest. Some reports suggest that Dugin initially planned to leave the event in the same car with Darya, but later changed his plans.

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