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Ukraine denies being behind the car bomb that killed Daria Dugina, 29.
At the same time, the Russian exiled politician Ilja Ponomarev claims that the deed was carried out by a previously unknown resistance group.
– This attack marks a new chapter in the Russian resistance to Putinism, he says.
Daria Dugina died instantly when the car she was traveling in exploded outside Moscow on Saturday night.
The State Investigative Committee, Russia’s equivalent of the FBI, states, according to regime-controlled media, that a bomb had been placed under the vehicle.
The attack is believed to have been aimed at Daria Dugina’s father, Alexander Dugin, a fascist ideologue who has been called “Putin’s brain” and has long advocated the invasion of Ukraine.
Already last Saturday evening, Russian representatives singled out Ukraine as responsible for the act. Similar accusations circulated in Russian state media on Sunday, but the Kremlin has not made an official statement blaming Ukraine.
However, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova speculated on the subject.
“If the Ukrainian track is confirmed, we are talking about state terrorism directed by the regime in Kyiv,” she wrote on Telegram according to CNN.
The Ukrainian government strongly denies the allegations.
– Ukraine has absolutely nothing to do with this. We are not a criminal state like Russia, said President Zelensky’s adviser Mykhailo Podolyak according to The Guardian.
Designates new resistance group
At the same time, a Russian politician in exile in Kyiv claims that the murder was carried out by a previously unknown Russian resistance group called the NRA, the National Republican Army. Ilja Ponomarev made the announcement on his YouTube channel on Saturday morning.
He previously sat in the Russian parliament and, according to The Guardian, was the only one in the Duma to vote against the annexation of Crimea in 2014.
Ponomarev claims, according to the Kyiv Independentthat the NRA has tasked him with releasing a statement:
“This action, like many other resistance actions on Russian territory in recent months, was carried out by the National Republican Army,” he said.
Ponomarev continued:
– A significant event took place near Moscow last night. This attack marks a new chapter in the Russian resistance to Putinism. New, but not the last.
According to Ponomarev, the NRA promises not to target civilians, but anyone with ties to Putin’s regime is a legitimate target. He read aloud from an alleged manifesto of the group that legitimized the attack on Daria Dugina.
– She was a voice that advocated violence and murder in Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine.
He went on to say, according to The Guardian’s translation:
– We believe that a people deprived of their democratic rights has the right to rebel against tyrants. Putin will be deposed and destroyed by us.
Max Seddon: “Odd first goals”
Ilya Ponomarev has been banned from returning to Russia and became a Ukrainian citizen in 2019. In March, he started his Youtube show and a Telegram channel.
His opposition to Putin is well known and, as The Guardian notes, his claims about a previously unknown resistance group inside Russia will anger the Kremlin, true or not.
Financial Times Russia correspondent Max Seddon tweets that Ponomarev was not known for his reliability during his time as an opposition politician.
“No one has heard of this group. And if someone is going to start using car bombs in Russia, it would be odd to choose Dugin and his daughter as the first targets”, he writes.