Ukraine killed Putin ally’s daughter: Russia has accused Ukrainian special forces of murdering the daughter of one of President Vladimir Putin’s cronies in a weekend vehicle bombing.
Darya Dugina, 29, died on Saturday when the vehicle she was driving detonated outside Moscow.
The attack could have been directed at her famed ultra-nationalist father, Alexander Dugin, who is thought to be close to Mr. Putin.
Officials in Ukraine have denied any role in the blast.
However, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) announced on Monday that the case had been solved and that Ukraine was directly responsible.
The FSB told Russian media that a Ukrainian woman and her young daughter had arrived in Russia in July, but that she was actually a Ukrainian special services contractor.
According to the report, the woman rented an apartment in the same building as Ms. Dugina for a month to prepare for the attack. She allegedly followed Ms. Dugina around Moscow in a Mini Cooper with three different license plates at the time.
Following the explosion, the suspect fled to Estonia, according to the FSB.
Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukraine’s President Zelensky, said the FSB’s version of events was “Russian propaganda” from “a fantasy world.”
The FSB then released a video purportedly showing the suspect’s automobile entering Russia, as well as surveillance footage of her entering and leaving Ms. Dugina’s building.
On Saturday evening, Ms. Dugina and her father attended a festival near Moscow where Mr. Dugin, a philosopher, gave a lecture. They were supposed to go in the same automobile but changed their minds at the last minute.
Ukraine killed Putin ally’s daughter, Russia says
According to investigators, explosives were concealed beneath the Toyota Land Cruiser Ms. Dugina was driving. A video shared online from the site appeared to show a distressed Mr. Dugin watching emergency personnel care for the flaming vehicle.
Konstantin Malofeev, a family friend, issued a statement on Mr. Dugin’s behalf, calling his daughter’s death a “terrorist act by the Ukrainian Nazi dictatorship.”
He was referring to the false but frequently repeated claim by the Russian leadership of a strong Nazi presence within Ukraine, which was one of the key grounds given for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24.
“My daughter Darya Dugina was cruelly killed in front of me,” stated the Telegram statement. “She was a beautiful Orthodox woman, a patriot, a war reporter, a central TV specialist, and a philosopher.”
“We only require victory. My daughter offered up her young woman’s life on its altar. So, please, do it!”
President Putin personally paid tribute to Ms. Dugina in a Kremlin statement on Monday, calling her death a “vile, terrible crime.” He also bestowed the Order of Courage on Ms. Dugina posthumously, noting her “dedication exhibited in the fulfillment of professional responsibility.”
Ms. Dugina worked as a political pundit for her father’s International Eurasian Movement and routinely wrote for pro-Kremlin media sites.