Murder of Daria Douguina in Russia: what the American secret services say

The mystery hovered over the assassination by car bomb, last August near Moscow, of the journalist and political scientist Daria Douguina, daughter of a Russian ultranationalist very close to the Russian president. It is the New York Times which reveals the hypothesis favored by American intelligence. According to the anonymous official sources of the New York newspaper, then corroborated by information from the CNN channel, the operation would have been sponsored, in the eyes of the United States, by “part of the Ukrainian government”.

“The United States did not participate in this attack, whether by providing intelligence or other assistance,” official sources close to American intelligence assured the newspaper. They also claim that the Americans had no knowledge of this operation, "and would have opposed the assassination if they had been consulted". "It is still unclear who the United States believes approved the assassination," CNN added. Nor "if the American intelligence community believes that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky knew about the plot or authorized it", indicates the chain.

Several sources also told the two outlets that officials believe the journalist was driving the car of her father, who was allegedly the real target of this operation: political theorist Alexander Dugin, known as "Putin's mastermind".

At the end of August, Russia had already accused the Ukrainian secret services of being involved in this killing. Ukraine then immediately denied its responsibility, denying it was "a terrorist state". The suspicion of his complicity has been examined again for a week within the American government, indicates the New York daily.

The Ukrainian authorities have since reiterated their denial, and told CNN that they have no further information on the death of Daria Douguina. "Any killing in wartime...must serve a specific purpose, be it tactical or strategic. But someone like Dougina is not a tactical or strategic target for Ukraine," he said. New York Times an adviser to President Zelensky, Mykhailo Podolyak.

Ukraine's responsibility for the assassination, if confirmed, "would signal a bold expansion of Ukraine's covert operations to target a well-known political figure just outside of Moscow," CNN noted, adding that " until then, Ukrainian strikes on Russian soil were limited to attacks on fuel depots and military bases in towns on the Russian-Ukrainian border." US intelligence, for its part, is concerned about this lack of transparency and the risk of reprisals from Russia, which could carry out similar attacks targeting Ukrainian officials.