The US government had misgivings about Kiev’s tactics following the car bombing that killed journalist Darya Dugina in Moscow Region, Politico news website has claimed. The assassination of controversial Russian philosopher Aleksandr Dugin’s daughter on August 22, left American officials “angered,” the article published on Tuesday said.
To deter Kiev from making similar “provocative” moves down the road, Washington intentionally allowed details of the plot to be made public in recent days, Politico reported, citing an unnamed official. Last week the New York Times reported that the US intelligence officials believe Dugina’s assassination was authorized by “parts” of the Ukrainian government.
The NYT article, citing anonymous US officials, claimed Washington was not involved in the hit in any way, and would have opposed the operation had it known about it in advance.
In a “closely held assessment of Ukrainian complicity” shared with the US government, intelligence officials voiced their concern that such a “covert campaign” could “widen the conflict,” and also expressed frustration over “Ukraine’s lack of transparency about its military and covert plans, especially on Russian soil,” the NYT reported.
Commenting on the article, Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov said it might indicate a positive development. The Russian official also noted that Moscow “really want[s] to hope that this is not some attempt by the American colleagues, who may possess certain information, to distance themselves from responsibility for future terrorist acts that the Ukrainian state may be preparing.”
The Politico article, however, states that the large-scale missile strikes on Ukrainian cities unleashed by Russia this week eclipsed disagreements between Washington and Kiev, with the Biden administration now ever more determined to support Ukraine in countering the Russian offensive.
Dugina was killed on August 20, when the car she was driving exploded on the outskirts of Moscow. Russian authorities pointed the finger at Kiev and named two Ukrainian nationals as suspects.