Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Russia Blames Ukraine for Nationalist's Car Bombing Death
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 2 years ago on
August 22, 2022

Share

 

Moving quickly to assign blame, Russia on Monday declared Ukrainian intelligence responsible for the brazen car bombing that killed the daughter of a leading right-wing Russian political thinker over the weekend. Ukraine denied involvement.

Daria Dugina, a 29-year-old commentator with a nationalist Russian TV channel, died when a remotely controlled explosive device planted in her SUV blew up on Saturday night as she was driving on the outskirts of Moscow, ripping the vehicle apart and killing her on the spot, authorities said.

Her father, Alexander Dugin, a philosopher, writer and political theorist who ardently supports Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to send troops into Ukraine, was widely believed to be the intended target. Russian media quoted witnesses as saying that the SUV belonged to Dugin and that he had decided at the last minute to travel in another vehicle.

Russia’s Federal Security Service, or FSB, the main successor to the KGB, said Dugina’s killing was “prepared and perpetrated by the Ukrainian special services.”

The FSB said a Ukrainian citizen, Natalya Vovk, carried out the killing and then fled to Estonia.

In Estonia, the prosecutor general’s office said in a statement carried by the Baltic News Services that it “has not received any requests or inquiries from the Russian authorities on this topic.”

The FSB said Vovk arrived in Russia in July with her 12-year-old daughter and rented an apartment in the building where Dugina lived in order to shadow her. It said that Vovk and her daughter were at a nationalist festival that Dugin and his daughter attended just before the killing.

The agency released video of the suspect from surveillance cameras at the border crossings and at the entrance to the Moscow apartment building.

The FSB said Vovk used a license plate for Ukraine’s Russian-backed separatist Donetsk region to enter Russia and a Kazakhstan plate in Moscow before switching to a Ukrainian one to cross into Estonia.

Ukraine’s presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak denied any Ukrainian involvement in the bombing. In a tweet, he dismissed the FSB claims as fiction, casting them as part of infighting between Russian security agencies.

In a letter extending condolences to Dugin and his wife, Putin denounced the “cruel and treacherous” killing and added that Dugina “honestly served people and the Fatherland, proving what it means to be a patriot of Russia with her deeds.” He posthumously awarded Dugina the Order of Courage, one of Russia’s highest medals.

Russian Foreign Minisry spokeswoman Maria Zakharov said Dugina’s killing reflected Kyiv’s reliance on “terrorism as an instrument of its criminal ideology.”

In a statement, Dugin described his daughter as a “rising star” who was “treacherously killed by enemies of Russia.”

“Our hearts are longing not just for revenge and retaliation. It would be too petty, not in Russia style,” Dugin wrote. “We need only victory.”

The car bombing, unusual for Moscow since the gang wars of the turbulent 1990s, triggered calls from Russian nationalists to respond by ramping up strikes on Ukraine.

Sergei Markov, a pro-Kremlin political analyst, argued that the perpetrators of Dugina’s killing might have hoped to encourage a split between those in the Russian elite who advocate a political compromise to end the hostilities in Ukraine and proponents of even tougher military action.

Dugin, dubbed “Putin’s brain” and “Putin’s Rasputin” by some in the West, has been a prominent proponent of the “Russian world” concept, a spiritual and political ideology that emphasizes traditional values, the restoration of Russia’s global influence and the unity of all ethnic Russians throughout the world.

Dugin helped popularize the “Novorossiya,” or “New Russia” concept that Russia used to justify the 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula and its support of separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine. He has urged the Kremlin to step up its operations in Ukraine.

Dugin has also promoted authoritarian leadership in Russia and spoken with disdain of liberal Western values. He has been slapped with U.S. and European Union sanctions.

His daughter expressed similar views and had appeared as a commentator on the TV channel Tsargrad, where Dugin had served as chief editor.

Dugina herself was sanctioned by the U.S. in March for her work as chief editor of United World International, a website that Washington has described as a source of disinformation.

In an appearance on Russian television last week, Dugina called America “a zombie society” where people oppose Russia but cannot find it on a map.

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

Augillard, Douglas Lead the Way as Bulldogs Rally Past Long Beach State

DON'T MISS

Israel Strikes Without Warning in Beirut, Kills at Least 15 as Cease-Fire Sought

DON'T MISS

Trump Taps Rollins as Ag Chief in Final Cabinet Pick

DON'T MISS

Fresno State Becomes Bowl Eligible, Defeats Colorado State on Senior Night

DON'T MISS

After Fresno Visit, Newsom Announces $24.7M Taxpayer-Funded Apprenticeship Program

DON'T MISS

How Will Merced County Fund Public Safety After Measure R’s Failure?

DON'T MISS

As Atmospheric River Soaks California, Farmworkers Await Flood Aid Promised in 2023

DON'T MISS

Sacramento Region Gained People but Flubbed Economic Opportunities Over 50 Years

DON'T MISS

Nations at UN Climate Talks Agree on $300B a Year for Poor Countries in a Compromise Deal

DON'T MISS

What to Know About Lori Chavez-DeRemer, Trump’s Pick for Labor Secretary

UP NEXT

Nations at UN Climate Talks Agree on $300B a Year for Poor Countries in a Compromise Deal

UP NEXT

NATO Head and Trump Meet in Florida for Talks on Global Security

UP NEXT

UN Expert: Myanmar’s Desperate Military Ramps Up Attacks Including Beheadings, Rapes and Torture

UP NEXT

NATO and Ukraine to Hold Emergency Talks After Russia’s Attack With New Hypersonic Missile

UP NEXT

Many in Gaza Are Eating Just Once a Day, as Hunger Spreads Amid Aid Issues

UP NEXT

Norwegian Student Arrested on Charges of Spying on US for Russia

UP NEXT

A Proposed Deal on Climate Cash at UN Summit Highlights Split Between Rich and Poor Nations

UP NEXT

North Korean Leader Says Past Diplomacy Only Confirmed US Hostility

UP NEXT

Putin Says Russia Has Tested a New Intermediate Range Missile in a Strike on Ukraine

UP NEXT

Pope to Make Late Italian Teenager Carlo Acutis the First Millennial Saint on April 27

Fresno State Becomes Bowl Eligible, Defeats Colorado State on Senior Night

18 hours ago

After Fresno Visit, Newsom Announces $24.7M Taxpayer-Funded Apprenticeship Program

20 hours ago

How Will Merced County Fund Public Safety After Measure R’s Failure?

21 hours ago

As Atmospheric River Soaks California, Farmworkers Await Flood Aid Promised in 2023

22 hours ago

Sacramento Region Gained People but Flubbed Economic Opportunities Over 50 Years

23 hours ago

Nations at UN Climate Talks Agree on $300B a Year for Poor Countries in a Compromise Deal

1 day ago

What to Know About Lori Chavez-DeRemer, Trump’s Pick for Labor Secretary

2 days ago

What to Know About Scott Turner, Trump’s Pick for Housing Secretary

2 days ago

Trump Taps Investor Scott Bessent as Treasury Secretary

2 days ago

NATO Head and Trump Meet in Florida for Talks on Global Security

2 days ago

Augillard, Douglas Lead the Way as Bulldogs Rally Past Long Beach State

LONG BEACH — Amar Augillard led Fresno State with 25 points and David Douglas Jr. made a go-ahead 3-pointer with 42 seconds left as the Bull...

17 hours ago

17 hours ago

Augillard, Douglas Lead the Way as Bulldogs Rally Past Long Beach State

18 hours ago

Israel Strikes Without Warning in Beirut, Kills at Least 15 as Cease-Fire Sought

18 hours ago

Trump Taps Rollins as Ag Chief in Final Cabinet Pick

18 hours ago

Fresno State Becomes Bowl Eligible, Defeats Colorado State on Senior Night

20 hours ago

After Fresno Visit, Newsom Announces $24.7M Taxpayer-Funded Apprenticeship Program

21 hours ago

How Will Merced County Fund Public Safety After Measure R’s Failure?

22 hours ago

As Atmospheric River Soaks California, Farmworkers Await Flood Aid Promised in 2023

23 hours ago

Sacramento Region Gained People but Flubbed Economic Opportunities Over 50 Years

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend