U.S. intelligence officials allege Ukraine was responsible for a car bomb that killed the daughter of a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, The New York Times reported on Wednesday.
Daria Dugina, the daughter of Russian nationalist Alexander Dugin, was killed in August when an explosive device planted under her Toyota Land Cruiser went off.
American officials told the New York Times that U.S. intelligence believes parts of the Ukrainian government authorized the attack, though they did not specify whether Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was aware of or had signed off on the attack.
The U.S. was not aware of the attack ahead of time and admonished Ukrainian officials over the killing, the American officials said. The lack of transparency about Ukraine’s military and covert plans has reportedly led to frustration among U.S. officials, according to The New York Times.
Russia’s Federal Security Service accused Ukrainian secret services of the killing in late August, blaming a Ukrainian named Natalia Voyk. However, Ukraine denied the accusations.
“We are not a criminal state, unlike Russia, and definitely not a terrorist state,” Zelensky adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said.
Dugina’s father, a political thinker known to some as “Putin’s brain,” is suspected by some American officials to have been the intended target of the attack, The New York Times noted. Dugin has been sanctioned by the U.S. since 2015. A television commentator, journalist and chief editor of nationalist outlet United World International, Dugina was sanctioned by the U.S. in March.
