In a weekend vehicle bombing near Moscow, Russia has charged Ukraine special services of murdering the daughter of one of Vladimir Putin’s cronies.
A car that journalist Darya Dugina, 29, was driving exploded on Saturday outside Russia’s capital, killing her instantly.
It’s possible that the attack was planned to target her well-known ultra-nationalist father, Alexander Dugin, who is reported to be close to President Putin. Officials from Ukraine have ruled out any participation in the incident.
However, the Federal Security Service of Russia (FSB) declared on Monday that the matter had been resolved and pointed the finger squarely at Ukraine.
The FSB claimed to be a Ukrainian special services contractor when it told Russian media that a woman from her country had relocated to Russia in July with her small kid.
According to the report, the lady rented an apartment in the same building as Ms Dugina for a month in order to be ready for the assault. She is accused of having followed the journalist at that period in a Mini Cooper while using three different license plates.
After the explosion, the suspect fled to Estonia, according to the FSB.
Mykhailo Podolyak, a counselor to Ukrainian President Zelensky, claimed that the FSB’s account of events was “Russian propaganda” from “a fantasy universe.”
- RHD: Russia ready to discuss swap after Brittney Griner’s sentence, Texas governor sends migrants
- RHD: Russia is ‘largest source of terrorism in today’s world’ Zelenskiy, Blinken ‘pressed’ Russia
- RHD: Thousands evacuated as California’s Oak Fire grows, Russia’s Lavrov offers reassurances
Later, the FSB published CCTV showing the accused’s automobile entering Russia, entering what is believed to be Ms. Dugina’s building, and exiting Russia.
On Saturday night, Mr. Dugin, a philosopher, gave a talk at a festival close to Moscow, where Ms. Dugina and her father were in attendance. They apparently had planned to leave in the same automobile, but they abruptly changed their minds.
According to the investigators, explosives were hidden underneath the Toyota Land Cruiser Ms. Dugina was operating.
Online videos from the incident appeared to show a terrified Mr. Dugin watching emergency personnel deal with the on-fire car.
In a statement released on Mr. Dugin’s behalf, a family friend named Konstantin Malofeev called the murder of his daughter “a terrorist crime by the Ukrainian Nazi dictatorship.”
He was referring to one of the key justifications for the invasion, the baseless but frequently repeated assertion by Russian leadership that there was a significant Nazi presence within Ukraine.
“My daughter Darya Dugina was brutally murdered in front of me,” the statement on Telegram read. “She was a beautiful Orthodox woman, patriot, war reporter, an expert for central TV and philosopher.”
“We only need our victory. My daughter sacrificed her young woman’s life to its altar. So please, achieve it!”
