The Lady of Tradition

I thank you all from my heart all those who  commemorate the tragic day 20 august 2022 when my daughter Darya was brutally killed by Ukrainian terrorist woman. I thank all my friends and friends of Darya for Your condolences and sharing my deep sorrow. I also thank you for publishing the different books written by Dasha or dedicated to her memory.

Dasha was first and foremost a woman of the Tradition. And Tradition for her was all - sacredness, philosophy, politics, family, friendship, the past together with the future - Eternity itself...

Dasha was very straightforward in this loyalty to the Tradition. Until her brutal death... She was assassinated returning from the "Tradition" festival on 20 August 2022. This cannot be pure coincidence. This is the sign of God.

Only that for which people are willing to sacrifice their lives possesses the real value. Tradition is the highest value. For Darya. For me, for my wife Natasha, for my family, for my people. It is what makes the Motherland the Motherland, the people the people, the Church the Church, the culture the culture.

Dasha was the embodiment of creativity, she was a launch into the future, she lived in faith and hope. She was always only looking forward and upwards. Wrongly, she took it too steeply, as far as 'upwards' was concerned.... But her message lives on among us and becomes ever more distinct, collected, clear. His message is an invitation to the Russian future and to a truly European future. A future that has yet to be realised. By you, by us.

Dasha has always thought of herself as of a project, as a launching of creative will. She burned with philosophy, religion, politics, culture and art. She lived so richly, so fully, precisely because she was interested in everything. Hence the variety of her interests, her texts, her speeches, her creativity, her endeavours. During her lifetime, she strongly wanted the Russians to get going, to move our country and our culture from a standstill and take off.

She considered it to be her mission to live for Russia and, if necessary, to die for Russia. This is what she wrote in her Diaries, “The Heights and Swamps of My Heart”, which we recently published in RUssia. Dasha's second philosophical book, 'Eschatological Optimism', will be published in Russia soon. And it is great that it is already published in English. Dasha is remembered and loved throughout the world by those who are faithful to the Tradition even in the darkest times, even when the Tradition itself no longer exists, by those who remain faithful to God even when He is dead.

Living for Russia is her message, which must be conveyed over and over again.

We have many wonderful true heroes, warriors, defenders, people with deep souls and pure hearts. Some of them gave their lives for the Motherland. Some of them live with us now. The memory of every hero is sacred. And so is the memory of Dasha.

But the fact is that Dasha is not only a model patriot and citizen, she is also the bearer of incredible spiritual potential (even if she has not had time to fully unfold it – she was killed too young in her 29 years). She has endeavoured to embody the grace of imperial Russia, the Silver Age style of early 20th century Russian culture and was pervaded by a deep interest in the philosophy of Neoplatonism. Orthodoxy and Russian geopolitics. Modern avant-garde art - in music, theatre, painting, film - and the tragic understanding of the ontology of war. Sober and aristocratically restrained acceptance of the fatal crisis of modernity and an ardent will to overcome it. All that is an eschatological optimism. To face the misfortune and horror of modernity and inspite of horror to maintain a radiant faith in God, in His Mercy, in His Justice.

I wish the remembrance of Dasha would not be so much to keep the focus on the images of her life as a lively, charming girl, full of pure energy, but rather to be the continuation of her ardour, the realisation of her plans, her pure and far-sighted imperial dreams.

Today, it is clear to many that Dasha has objectively become our national heroine. Poems and paintings, cantatas and songs, films and universities, plays and theatre productions are dedicated to her. Streets in towns and villages now bear her name. A monument is being prepared for installation in Moscow and perhaps other cities.

A girl who had never taken part in hostilities, who had never called for violence or aggression, who was deep and smiling, naive and well-educated, was brutally murdered in front of her father's eyes by a heartless, ruthless enemy, a Ukrainian terrorist woman who also took part in the 'Tradition' festival and did not hesitate to involve her small 12 years old daughter in the brutal murder. It was the authorities in Kiev and the secret services of the Anglo-Saxon world, staunch enemies of Tradition, who sent her to do this deed. Exactly one year ago, on 20 August 2022, I gave a lecture on the 'role of the devil in history' at the Festival of Tradition. Dasha listened. The murderer also listened. The devil was listening to what I was saying about the devil, preparing to do his devilish work.

And Dasha certainly became immortal. Our nation could not remain indifferent to this. And my tragedy, the tragedy of our family, of Dasha's friends, of all those who communicated and collaborated with her, became the tragedy of all our people. And tears began to choke people, both those who knew this girl and those who hear about her for the first time.

And these are not just tears of pain an sorrow. They are the tears of our resurrection, of our purification, of our coming Victory.

Dasha has become a symbol. She already is a symbol. But now it is important that the essential meaning of this symbol would not disappear, would not dissolve, would not vanish. It is important not only to preserve Dasha's memory, but to continue her work. Because she had the Cause. Her Cause.

There are saints who help in certain circumstances: one helps in poverty, another -- in sickness, third in pilgrimage, fourth in captivity. Individual Russian icons are also distributed in such a way as to patronise people in various difficult, sometimes desperate situations. 'Placate my sorrows' is the name of one of the images of the Mother of God. And there is a canon that is read when it becomes impossible to live and everything falls apart.....

The heroes and heroines are also different. One embodies military valour. Another -- sacrificial tenderness. Third -- fortitude. Fourth -- the pinnacle of political will. All are beautiful.

Dasha embodies the soul. The Russian soul.

If there is no soul, there will be no Russia, there will be nothing.

Many good people have volunteered to carry Dasha's memory.

There is the 'Daria Dugina People's Institute'.

There is the 'Daria Dugina Classes of Courage'.

There is a new series from the excellent Vladimir Dal publishing house 'Dasha's books'.

There are various prizes and other initiatives.

And we let people do what their hearts tell them to do.

The important thing is to do everything with the soul.