The assassination of Daria Dugina was orchestrated by Ukraine’s security service SBU, The Washington Post reported on Monday, citing unnamed officials.
Ukrainian operatives had installed components of a bomb that killed Dugina in a hidden compartment in a pet carrier, the report said, citing officials in the know.
The report also said that since 2015, the CIA has spent tens of millions of dollars to transform Ukraine’s special services into potent allies against Moscow.
The CIA has provided Ukraine with advanced surveillance systems, trained recruits at sites in Ukraine and the United States, built new headquarters for departments in Ukraine’s military intelligence agency, and shared intelligence on a much greater scale that would have been unimaginable before 2014, the report said.
Ukraine’s affinity for lethal operations, however, has caused unease among US officials and complicated its cooperation with the CIA, The Post reported.
Over the past 20 months, the SBU and the Ukrainian Defense Ministry’s Main Directorate of Intelligence have carried out dozens of assassinations, including of war correspondent Vladlen Tatarsky at a cafe in St. Petersburg, the report said, citing Ukrainian and Western officials.