conflicts
Russia blames Ukraine for Dugina’s murder
Investigators are working at the scene of the explosion of the car driven by Daria Dugina outside Moscow. photo
© Uncredited/Investigative Committee of Russia/AP/dpa
The murder of war supporter Darya Dugina brought the threat of terrorism directly to Moscow. Now Russia officially blames Ukraine for the 29-year-old’s death. Kyiv rejects this.
Russia blames Ukraine for the murder of pro-war supporter Darya Dugina. “The crime was prepared and committed by the Ukrainian secret services,” Russia’s domestic intelligence agency FSB said on Monday, according to the Interfax agency. Kyiv had previously denied having anything to do with Dugina’s murder on Sunday night.
The FSB named a Ukrainian born in 1979 as the perpetrator who traveled to Russia with her daughter at the end of July. After the crime, both left for neighboring EU and NATO country Estonia.
The daughter of the well-known right-wing nationalist ideologue Alexander Dugin was considered a fervent supporter of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, which has been going on for six months. Dugina died when her car exploded in a Moscow suburban housing estate. Representatives of the Russian state media immediately blamed Ukraine for the assassination without presenting any evidence. According to their argument, the assassination attempt was actually aimed at the Kremlin-affiliated Dugin himself.
Some observers doubted that and rather saw the handwriting of Russian security authorities. Still others pointed to the Russian exile Ilya Ponomarev, who blamed a hitherto unknown Russian partisan movement – consisting of opponents of President Vladimir Putin – for the assassination. It is still unclear whether the “National Republican Army” movement he named even exists.