Investigators examine the road at the scene of a car bomb that killed Daria Dugina. Russia’s FSB security services blamed Natalya Vovk, a 43-year-old Ukrainian. Photo: Investigative Committee of Russia
Russia’s domestic security agency accused Ukraine on Monday for orchestrating the Saturday killing of Daria Dugina, the daughter of political theorist Alexander Dugin, a nationalist who has advocated a “Russian World.” Ukraine denied any involvement.
Moscow’s Federal Security Service, without providing evidence, also said the assassin fled across the border into Estonia, prompting a cascade of threats in Russian media against the Baltic nation.
Estonian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Mihkel Tamm, placed the accusations in the context of Reinsalu’s call for a blanket European Union ban on Russian travel visas.
“We know that the Estonian visa ban and the prospect of a pan-European visa ban is infuriating Russia,” Tamm said on Tuesday.
President Vladimir Putin called Dugina’s killing a “dastardly crime.” Russian legislators and other guests called for vengeance during her televised funeral in Moscow on Tuesday. A Kremlin envoy awarded her the Order of Courage posthumously and other top officials sent condolences.
Dugina, 29, was killed when the Toyota SUV she was driving exploded about 20km west of the capital on Saturday night, investigators said. Her father, a harsh critic of US geopolitical dominance, has advocated Kremlin control over the Russian-speaking world, including Ukraine. Dugin, 60, was sanctioned by the US in 2015 for his alleged involvement in Moscow’s annexation of Crimea.