Three days ago, Russian officials cast blame on Ukraine for the murder of Darya Dugina. She was a commentator on a Russian nationalist TV channel and the daughter of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s long-time, ultra-nationalist friend Alexander Dugin. Ukraine has continuously condemned Russian claims saying, “We don’t work in this way.”
On Tuesday, the head of Ukraine’s Security and Defence Council, Oleksiy Danilov, said that he anticipates Moscow “orchestrating a series of terrorist strikes in Russian towns.” After claiming in a series of tweets posted in both English and Ukrainian that support for the conflict is “falling” in Russia and that the Kremlin needs “popular mobilization.”
The commonality between these two scenarios seems almost outright. President Vladimir Putin is known to be a very good player in the game of manipulation. Through his scope of strategies, Putin has attempted to create a mirage of false narratives surrounding the ongoing Russia-Ukraine crisis. As Russia’s ongoing conflict with Ukraine loses traction in the newsstands and minds of Russians, why wouldn’t Putin attempt to redirect and reform the narrative?
The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense’s Main Director of Intelligence, Budanov Kyrylo, backed Ukraine’s Security and Defense Council, saying that in order to consolidate the popular vote of Russians against Ukrainians and emotionally stir up the masses, “they are planning explosions in Russian residential buildings or rocket attacks to blame the Armed Forces of Ukraine and volunteer battalions to create an emotional picture of the “atrocities of Ukrainian nationalists.”
It seems as though Russia has already begun the process of villainizing Ukraine again by stirring around the possibility of car-bombing a young woman with a voice that stood against Ukraine.
Her 60-year-old father paid tribute to her as a “rising star at the start of her journey.” He said she was brutally murdered in front of him by Russia’s enemies, and he went on to call for victory over Ukraine.
Helping shed a positive light on Russia and a lesser one on Ukraine, President Putin condemned the “vile, cruel crime” and posthumously awarded Ms. Dugina the Order of Courage. Russian authorities opened up a murder investigation on Sunday.
Analysts speculate that Alexander Dugin, the victim’s father, was the target of the killing.
A memorial service for 29-year-old Darya Dugina took place in Moscow on Tuesday.
