Her father Alexander Dugin, 60, is a leading Russian ultranationalist ideologue
The Pope today condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine as 'morally unjust, barbaric and repugnant' as he clarified his position on the war after the pontiff's comments on the death of a Russian ultra-nationalist's daughter sparked outrage.Pope Francis angered Kyiv when he referred to Darya Dugina, the slain daughter of Putin ally Alexander Dugin, as an innocent victim of war after she was killed in a car bomb in Moscow.
But today, the Vatican sought to clarify the pope's position on Ukraine and said: 'The Holy Father's words on this dramatic issue are to be read as a voice raised in defence of human life and the values associated with it, and not as political positions.'
The Vatican stressed that the war in Ukraine had been 'initiated by the Russian Federation' and that Pope Francis had been 'clear and unequivocal in condemning it as morally unjust, unacceptable, barbaric, senseless, repugnant and sacrilegious'.
Speaking on Ukraine's Independence Day on August 24, the pope had said of the conflict: 'So many innocents... are paying for madness.'
He referred to Dugina as 'that poor girl thrown in the air by a bomb under the seat of a car in Moscow'.
The Pope today condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine as 'morally unjust, barbaric and repugnant' as he clarified his position on the war after the pontiff's comments on the death of a Russian ultra-nationalist's daughter sparked outrage
Dugina , whose father Alexander Dugin is a notorious ultranationalist, died in an explosion on a motorway near the village of Bolshiye Vyazyomy just outside Moscow on Saturday night
Most international observers remain convinced the assassination was actually carried out by Russian agents who wanted to silence the victim's father. Mr Dugin was seen at the blast scene, holding his head in his hands.
Ukraine's ambassador to the Holy See, Andriy Yurash, responded that the pope should not have put 'aggressor and victim' in the same category and the Vatican's envoy to Kyiv was summoned to the foreign ministry to explain.
Pope Francis, who has repeatedly condemned the conflict, has, on several occasions, been criticised in some quarters for not painting the war in black and white terms, and for leaving the door open to discussions with Moscow.