NEW YORK, October 12. /TASS/. The information released by the US media about Kiev's involvement in the murder of Russian journalist Daria Dugina served in part as a warning to Ukraine to avoid such inflammatory actions in the future, Politico, an American publication, reported on Tuesday, citing a source.
According to the newspaper, tensions have arisen between the US and Ukraine over how exactly to respond to Russia's special military operation. Politico noted that US officials were outraged when the Ukrainians blew up a booby-trapped car in Moscow.
According to an official that’s in the know on the matter, the recent release of the information surrounding the plot was in part meant to serve as a warning to Ukraine not to repeat this kind of provocative action, the publication pointed out.
On October 5, the New York Times reported that US intelligence agencies believed that members of the Ukrainian government were involved in the murder of Russian journalist Daria Dugina. The newspaper sources did not reveal which Ukrainian officials authorized the mission, or who carried it out, and whether Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky had given his consent to it. At the same time, the newspaper quoted its sources as saying that the US was not involved in the crime and did not provide any intelligence information or any other assistance, and Kiev did not hold any consultations with Washington regarding Dugina's murder.
Commenting on the publication, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the conclusions of America’s intelligence agencies, if the media information were correct, were a positive signal. He stressed that he would like to believe that this was not an attempt by the US to absolve itself of responsibility for possible future crimes by the Ukrainian authorities, he added.
Darya Dugina, 29, was killed on August 20 when her car was blown up on the M1 Highway near the village of Bolshiye Vyazemy in the Moscow Region’s Odintsovsky district. On August 22, the Russian Federal Security Service's Public Relations Center told TASS that her murder had been solved. According to the agency, it was carried out by Ukraine’s intelligence services, and the perpetrator was a Ukrainian citizen named Natalya Vovk. Later, the FSB reported that Dugina's murder, together with Vovk, had been plotted in Moscow by another member of this Ukrainian sabotage and terrorist group, Ukrainian citizen Bogdan Tsyganenko.