Funeral held as Ukraine claims Russia killed daughter of major Putin ally
(Update 1: Adds funeral details)
Lviv, Ukraine, Aug 23 (EFE).- Ukraine said on Tuesday that Russia’s security service was behind the murder of Darya Dugina, the daughter of a major ally of Russian president Vladimir Putin.
In a televised statement, secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, Oleksiy Danilov, denied Kyiv’s involvement in Dugina’s killing over the weekend.
“We couldn’t care less about this person, (…) The FSB (Russian Federal Security Service) did it and now they are going to say that it was someone on our side who perpetrated it,” he said.
“Our men and women have more important tasks. We are not involved in the explosion that killed this woman at all. It is the work of the Russian secret services,” Danilov added.
The Ukrainian security chief said Dugina and her father had criticized what Russia has called a “special military operation” in Ukraine, saying it was dragging on for too long.
On Monday, Russia accused Ukraine’s secret service of planting a car bomb that killed the 29-year-old daughter of Putin ally Alexander Dugin, the leader of Russia’s ultranationalist neo-Eurasia Movement.
Moscow claims the attack was carried out by a Ukrainian agent identified as Natalia Vovk.
Thousands attended a funeral for Dugina in Moscow on Tuesday, including her father.
Putin on Monday described the assassination as a “vile, cruel crime.” EFE
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