Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) on Monday accused Ukrainian secret services of killing the daughter of an influential ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin known as “Putin’s brain.”
The FSB told Russian news outlet Tass that a Ukrainian named Natalia Voyk was behind the killing of TV commentator and journalist Daria Dugina, who died after a bomb exploded in her car on Saturday night.
Russia’s intelligence agency said Voyk fled to Estonia after the killing. The FSB said they are seeking her extradition.
The Hill could not immediately verify the claims and the Tass did not share any evidence from the FSB.
Ukraine has denied involvement in the attack through a statement from Mykhailo Podolyak, a top presidential adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
“We are not a criminal state, unlike Russia, and definitely not a terrorist state,” Podolyak said on Ukrainian national television, according to Al Jazeera.
Dugina, 29, was the daughter of Alexander Dugin, a prominent philosopher and writer who is said to be a close adviser to Putin.
Dugina, who has pushed for the restoration of Russian power and unity, is a supporter of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and manages an ultra-nationalist website called Geopolitica, which spreads propaganda and disinformation about the U.S. and other Western nations. In 2015, the U.S. designated Dugin as a threat to the sovereignty of Ukraine.
Dugina is also a staunch supporter of Russian nationalism and has spread similar rhetoric about Ukraine through the website United World International. The U.S. sanctioned Dugina in March.
Before an alleged remote-controlled bomb exploded in her Toyota Land Cruiser, Dugina attended a literary and musical festival in Moscow with her father on Saturday.
The FSB on Monday said Voyk traveled to Moscow with her teen daughter Sofya Shaban on July 23 and rented an apartment in the same building where Dugina lived, Tass reported. Russia accused Voyk of spying on Dugina.
Russia’s Investigative Committee has launched a more formal investigation into Dugina’s death and the FSB has handed materials and evidence over for the probe, according to Tass.
An unknown Russian group called the National Republican Army claimed responsibility for the attack on Sunday. According to the Kyiv Independent, a former Russian lawmaker confirmed the group was responsible for Dugina’s murder.
U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the chairman of the House intelligence Committee, said he hoped Ukraine was not behind the attack and that it was an internal Russian affair.
“We have seen terrible war crimes by Russia against Ukraine, and Russia should be held accountable,” he told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday. “And I certainly would never want to see anything like an attack on civilians by Ukraine, and hope that their representations are correct.”