Moscow (Reuters) – Russia’s Federal Security Service accused Ukraine’s secret services yesterday of killing Darya Dugina, the daughter of an ultra-nationalist, in a car bomb attack near Moscow that President Vladimir Putin called “evil”.
Dugina, whose father Alexander Dugin is a prominent ideologue, was killed on Saturday when a bomb blew up the Toyota Land Cruiser she was driving, Russian investigators said.
Ukraine, defending itself from what it says is an imperial-style war of conquest waged by Russia, denied involvement in the attack, with Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak calling the accusation “propaganda”.
Putin on Monday posthumously granted Dugina the Order of Courage, a prestigious state award, “for courage and selflessness shown in the performance of professional duty”, the Kremlin said.
Dugina, a regular commentator on state TV, strongly backed Russia’s actions in Ukraine, which Moscow calls a “special military operation”.
Alexander Dugin, 60, has long advocated violence to achieve the unification of Russian-speaking and other territories.
In his first public statement on the bombing, he said Darya had been savagely killed before his own eyes by Ukraine.
“Our hearts are not simply thirsting for revenge or retribution,” Dugin wrote. “We only need our victory (against Ukraine). My daughter has sacrificed her young life on the altar of victory. So please win!”
Russia’s FSB security service said the attack was carried out by a Ukrainian woman born in 1979, whom it named and whose picture and information appeared on Russian news websites.
They linked her to Ukraine’s security services and accused her of being a member of the Azov battalion, a unit of Ukraine’s army that Russia has designated a terrorist group.
In response, Azov said the woman had never been a member of the unit and accused Russia of concocting a lie.
The FSB said the woman had arrived in Russia in July and spent a month preparing the attack. She had fled to Estonia afterwards, it said.
Russian law enforcement agencies had placed the woman on the country’s wanted list, TASS news agency reported, with Moscow seeking her extradition.
Estonia’s interior ministry and police and border guard service said in separate statements they could share information on individuals entering and leaving Estonia “only in cases prescribed by law”, adding the FSB allegation did not meet that requirement.
