Russians pay tribute to victim of car bomb

MOSCOW－Hundreds of people lined up on Tuesday to pay tribute to the daughter of a leading Russian political thinker killed in a car bombing that Moscow blamed on Ukrainian intelligence.

Speaking during a farewell ceremony held at a Moscow broadcast production center, Alexander Dugin said, with his voice breaking, that his 29-year-old daughter, a TV commentator, "died for the people".

Darya Dugina was killed when a remote-controlled explosive device planted in the SUV she was driving in blew up on Saturday night as she was driving on the outskirts of Moscow, ripping the vehicle apart and killing her on the spot, authorities said.

Her father, a political theorist, was widely believed to be the intended target. Russian media quoted witnesses as saying that the SUV belonged to Dugin and that he had decided at the last minute to travel in another vehicle.

Speaking at a separate event on Tuesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov denounced Dugina's killing as a "barbaric crime".

Russian President Vladimir Putin sent a letter of condolence on Monday to Dugin and his wife, denouncing the "cruel and treacherous "killing. He posthumously awarded Dugina the Order of Courage, one of Russia's highest medals.

Russia's Federal Security Service, or FSB, said Dugina's killing was "prepared and perpetrated by the Ukrainian special services".

The FSB said a Ukrainian citizen, Natalya Vovk, carried out the killing after arriving in Russia in July with her 12-year-old daughter and renting an apartment in the building where Dugina lived in order to shadow her. It said Vovk and her daughter were at a festival that Dugin and his daughter attended.

The agency said Vovk drove to Estonia after the killing, using a different license plate for her vehicle.

Ukraine has denied any involvement in the bombing.

Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, reaffirmed the denial late on Monday, saying that "our special services have no relation to that".

Dugin is a prominent proponent of the "Russian world" concept, a spiritual and political ideology that emphasizes traditional values. His daughter expressed similar views.

Agencies via Xinhua