There Can Be 'No Mercy' for Darya Dugina's Assassins: Moscow Official

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that there can be "no mercy" for those behind the death of the daughter of one of President Vladimir Putin's allies.

Darya Dugina, 29, died Saturday night in a car explosion on the outskirts of Moscow, and the Investigative Committee branch for the Moscow region has attributed the blast to a bomb planted in the vehicle. Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) accused the Ukrainian secret services on Monday of organizing the attack and alleged that a female Ukrainian citizen traveled to Moscow in July to carry it out. Ukraine's government has denied any involvement in the bombing.

Lavrov said during a news conference Tuesday that while he cannot say whether the alleged assassination was "an act of intimidation or settling of accounts," he believes it was a "barbaric crime that can never be forgiven," Russian state-owned news agency TASS reported.

"Now, as I understand, the FSB has already established the facts, which are now being investigated," he added. "The investigation, I hope, will be completed quickly, and based on the results of this probe, certainly there can be no mercy for the masterminds, those who ordered it and the perpetrators."

Dugina's father, Alexander Dugin, is a political philosopher and commentator known for promoting Russian propaganda. Sometimes referred to as "Putin's brain" and "Putin's Rasputin," he has been credited with being an architect of Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

Russian state media reported that Dugina, a journalist and political commentator who shared similar views, was in a Toyota Land Cruiser Prado when it exploded near the village of Velyki Vyazomy on the outskirts of Moscow.

The FSB alleged that the Ukrainian whom they said planted the bomb in her vehicle escaped to neighboring Estonia afterward.

Estonia, a European Union and NATO member, has pushed back on the suggestion that Dugina's alleged killer is hiding within its borders.

"We regard this as one instance of provocation in a very long line of provocations by the Russian Federation, and we have nothing more to say about it at the moment," Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu told local TV station ERR.

An anti-Putin group that calls itself the National Republican Army (NRA) has also reportedly claimed responsibility for the explosion via former Russian Duma member Ilya Ponomarev. The NRA, which has a goal to "overthrow and "destroy Putin," was targeting Dugina and her father in the attack, according to Ponomarev.

Newsweek was not able to independently verify any connection between the group and Dugina's death, or the group's existence.

Newsweek reached out to the foreign ministries of Russia and Ukraine for comment.