FSB identifies 2nd suspect in Darya Dugina's assassination
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The Russian agency believes that the two suspects already identified are members of a “Ukrainian sabotage-terrorist group.”
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Screenshot from an FSB video allegedly showing Bogdan Tsyganenko as he receives a package with fake car plates.
A Ukrainian man called Bogdan Tsyganenko was identified by Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) as an accomplice in the plot to assassinate Alexander Dugin's daughter, Darya Dugina.
Tsyganenko assisted Natalya Vovk, the main suspect, in obtaining a fake Kazakhstani passport and assembling an improvised explosive device, which she used later to kill the victim, according to the statement.
The FSB added on Monday that the suspected 42-year-old bombmaker came from Estonia to Russia in late June and left the country a day before the assassination on August 20. The FSB believes that the two suspects were members of a “Ukrainian sabotage-terrorist group.”
The agency released photos and a video showing Tsyganenko traveling with Vovk in her car, receiving falsified car plates, and entering and leaving Russia.
New details about the assassination itself were also revealed. The footage released shows Vovk watching Dugina at a parking lot of the Tradition festival where the bomb was presumably planted. The Ukrainian woman followed Dugina in her car and set off the explosion, which killed the target on the spot, according to the FSB.
Dugina often criticized the Ukrainian government and was a supporter of Russia’s military action in Ukraine. Her father Alexander Dugin, a political philosopher, has been long described by Western media as a secret influencer of Russian foreign policy.
After Vovk was identified as the main suspect, Russia accused Ukraine of masterminding the assassination, but the latter denied any involvement.
Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova said last week that if any Ukrainian trace in the murder of journalist and political analyst Darya Dugina is confirmed by competent authorities, then Kiev will be held on charges of implementing a policy of state terrorism.
Following the assassination, the UN called for an "investigation to establish the facts” behind the assassination of the Russian journalist, according to Stephane Dujarric, the spokesman for Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday.
