Day 181: Russia Claims Ukrainian Spy Responsible for Dugina Car Bomb; Zelenskyy Says Ukraine Flag to Fly Over Crimea
Facts
- On Mon., Russia's intelligence and security service, the FSB, blamed its Ukrainian counterpart for a car bomb that killed Darya Dugina – daughter of Putin-ally Aleksander Dugin - in the outskirts of Moscow last week. Having conducted "urgent detective measures," the FSB alleged that Natalia Vovk, a Ukrainian citizen, was the perpetrator, and found that "the crime was prepared and committed by Ukrainian secret services."
- The FSB released a video which they said showed Vovk enter Russia in a grey Mini Cooper with her daughter on Jul. 23, followed by doorbell camera footage which they said showed her enter the Moscow apartment building where Dugina lived. The final clip allegedly shows Vovk leave the country on Aug. 21 via the Russia-Estonia border, one day after the car bomb detonated.
- Russian officials said Vovk has been placed on wanted lists and that they plan to demand her extradition from Estonia. Meanwhile, Oleksii Danilov, Sec. of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, said the country had no interest in Dugina and alleged Dugina's death was "the work of the Russian secret services." Dugina's funeral was held in Moscow on Tuesday.
- Meanwhile, Poland's Pres. Andrzej Duda on Tues. arrived in Kyiv where he will hold talks with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The pair will reportedly discuss Ukraine's current war effort and economic and humanitarian cooperation. They will also hold talks as part of the Crimea Platform – a Zelensky initiative to retake the peninsula, annexed by Russia in 2014.
- Speaking at an event to celebrate Ukraine's flag day on Tues., Zelenskyy said the country's blue and yellow flag will once again fly over the Russian-occupied territories of Kherson, Zaporizhzhia and Crimea, though he did not mention Donetsk or Luhansk in the Donbas region. "No other colours will be recognised on our land and in our skies," he said.
- On the ground, Russian shelling was reported in Dnipro, Kryvyi Rih and Nikopol in the Dnipropetrovsk region, killing at least one civilian. Russian shelling also continued to be reported in Kharkiv, Sumy and Zaporizhzhia, as well as across the Donetsk region - there are no reports of civilian casualties at this stage.
Sources: Tass, New York Post, Reuters, and Pravda.
Narratives
- Anti-Russia narrative, as provided by Guardian. Each claim the FSB makes over Dugina's death raises more questions than it answers. According to the security service, Natalia Vovk entered Russia with her daughter, moved around undetected while frequently changing the plates on her Mini Cooper, and then planted and detonated a professional explosive device before leaving the country. The speed at which the FSB has discovered 'conclusive' video evidence, especially while it has failed to solve the high-profile murders of Putin critics, prompts scepticism.
- Pro-Russia narrative, as provided by Tass. Not only does the FSB video show Vovk enter the country with a licence plate from the Donetsk People's Republic, she is pictured using plates from Kazakhstan in Moscow and Ukrainian plates as she left the nation. She was also recorded attending the event at which Dugina was a guest speaker on the day she was killed. Is this the behaviour of an innocent person?