Russia's security service says Ukraine plotted the killing of the daughter of a Putin ally.
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Russia's Federal Security Service on Monday accused Ukraine's secret services of killing Darya Dugina, the daughter of a Russian ultra-nationalist, Russian news agencies reported.
www.reuters.com
Russian security service accuses Ukraine of killing ultra-nationalist's daughter
ReutersAugust 22, 20228:14 AM EDTLast Updated an hour ago
Aug 22 (Reuters) - Russia's Federal Security Service on Monday accused Ukraine's secret services of killing Darya Dugina, the daughter of a Russian ultra-nationalist, Russian news agencies reported.
Dugina, whose father is prominent ideologue Alexander Dugin, was killed on Saturday evening when a suspected explosive device blew up the Toyota Land Cruiser she was driving, Russian investigators said. Ukraine has denied involvement.
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The FSB said the attack was carried out by a Ukrainian woman born in 1979, whom it named.
It said the woman and her teenage daughter had arrived in Russia in July and spent a month preparing the attack by renting an apartment in the same housing block and researching Dugina's lifestyle, according to an FSB statement carried by Russian news agencies.
The assailant had attended an event outside Moscow on Saturday evening which Dugina and her father were also at, before carrying out a "controlled explosion" of Dugina's car, and fleeing Russia to Estonia, the FSB was quoted as saying.
There was no immediate response from Kyiv to the FSB statement.
INFLUENCE UNCLEAR
Alexander Dugin, Darya's father, is an ultra-nationalist ideologue who has advocated violence to achieve the unification of Russian-speaking and other territories in a vast new Russian empire.
Darya, who appeared regularly on Russian state TV, broadly endorsed her father's ideas and was a supporter of what Russia calls its "special military operation" in Ukraine, which Kyiv and the West cast as an imperial-style war of conquest.
Wednesday will mark six months since Russian troops crossed the border into Ukraine.
Dugin's influence in Russia and proximity to President Vladimir Putin has been the subject of speculation.
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Some Russia watchers ascribe him significant sway over Moscow's foreign policy and say he helped lay the intellectual groundwork for Putin to adopt a more aggressive and expansionist foreign policy. Others have said his impact and influence are minimal. The 60-year-old has never held an official Kremlin role.
Dugin did not respond to questions emailed to him on Sunday at an address listed on the website of the International Eurasian Movement that he founded.
On August 21, a car Darya Dugina was driving exploded
tass.com
22 AUG, 07:55
FSB solves Darya Dugina’s murder, masterminded by Ukrainian secret services
On August 21, a car Darya Dugina was driving exploded
© Sergei Bobylev/TASS
MOSCOW, August 22. /TASS/. The murder of Russian journalist Darya Dugina has been solved, Russia’s federal security service FSB has said. It was prepared by Ukrainian secret services. The perpetrator - a citizen of Ukraine identified as Natalia Vovk - escaped to Estonia, the FSB’s public relations center stated.
"As a result of urgent detective measures, the federal security service has solved the murder of Russian journalist Darya Dugina, born in 1992," the FSB stressed. The special service found that "the crime was prepared and committed by Ukrainian secret services." Its perpetrator was identified as a citizen of Ukraine, Natalia Vovk, born in 1979.
She had arrived in Russia on July 23, 2022, together with her daughter Sofya Shaban, born in 2010. "On the day of the murder, Vovk and Shaban attended the literary and music festival Tradition, where Dugina was present as an honorary guest.
On August 21, after a remote-controlled explosion of the Toyota Land Cruiser Prado car Dugina was driving, Vovk and her daughter left through the Pskov Region to Estonia," the FSB said.
To plot the murder and gather information about Dugina’s lifestyle, Vovk and her daughter rented an apartment in Moscow in the same building where the victim lived. To spy on the journalist, the criminal used a Mini Cooper car. When entering Russia, the vehicle carried a license plate of the Donetsk People's Republic - E982XH DPR, in Moscow - a license plate of Kazakhstan 172AJD02, and when leaving - a Ukrainian license plate AH7771IP. "The materials of the investigation have been handed over to the Investigative Committee," the FSB said.
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