Denials and details aside, Dugina’s death rocked the Russian TV anchors, journalists and other commentators who serve up propaganda justifying President Vladimir Putin’s invasion as a war against Western global power and “Nazis” in Ukraine. The killing immediately heightened a sense of vulnerability among Russia’s most elite and visible promoters of the war in Ukraine, who now realize that they might be targets and that the government is potentially unable to protect them…

Russians have been rattled by video of Dugina’s car exploding in a fireball, by images of crowds of holidaymakers fleeing occupied Crimea after the bombing of an air base there and by attacks on ammunition depots in southern Russia. They are also feeling the bite of sanctions, as prices soar and real wages fall.

And while it was once Putin’s enemies and critics who feared being shot or poisoned, now it is the Russian leader’s most prominent public allies who are insecure, relying on private bodyguards and other protective measures against unseen and unpredictable threats.

“By now it should be obvious to everyone that there are no safe places,” pro-Kremlin war reporter Yury Kotenok tweeted, adding that Russians could no longer ignore the war. “Moscow is now a front-line city.”