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Ukraine War Intensifies with the Assassination of Daria Dugina, Attacks on Russian Military Facilities in Crimea, and the Dangers Surrounding the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power

August 22, 2022

 

Darya Dugina

The site of Daria Dugina's assassination in the Moscow region, August 21, 2022	Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, file, August 15, 2022

 

Moscow Says Ukraine Behind Death of Kremlin Ideologue's Daughter

Moscow Times, AFP, August 22, 2022

Russia's FSB security services said Monday that Ukraine was behind a car bombing in the outskirts of Moscow that killed the daughter of hard-line Russian ideologue Alexander Dugin.

Dugin — an outspoken ultranationalist intellectual and a vocal supporter of the Kremlin's offensive in Ukraine — is thought to have been the likely target of the attack.

"The crime was prepared and committed by Ukrainian special services," the FSB said in a statement carried by Russian news agencies.

It added that the perpetrator — a female Ukrainian citizen born in 1979 — on Sunday fled to EU member Estonia.

Daria Dugina was killed Saturday when a bomb placed in a Toyota Land Cruiser went off as she drove on a highway some 40 kilometers (25 miles) outside Moscow.

According to the FSB statement, the attacker arrived in Russia in July 2022 with her underage daughter and rented an apartment in the same building where Dugina lived.

The FSB said the attacker was at a festival outside Moscow that Dugin and his daughter attended on Saturday.

Reports from Russian media suggested Dugina borrowed her father's car at the last minute.

Dugin, 60, sometimes called "Putin's Rasputin" or "Putin's brain," is an outspoken Russian ultranationalist intellectual.

He has long advocated the unification of Russian-speaking territories in a vast new Russian empire and wholeheartedly supported Moscow's operation in Ukraine.

He was put on a Western sanctions list after Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, a move he also backed.

A Ukrainian presidential adviser, Mykhaylo Podolyak, on Sunday denied that Kyiv authorities were behind the bombing.

Moscow Says Ukraine Behind Death of Kremlin Ideologue's Daughter - The Moscow Times

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Darya Dugina assassination: FSB says it was Ukrainian special services

 Pravda, 22.08.2022 15:25

The assassination of journalist Darya Dugina, which was committed in the Moscow region on August 20, has been solved. The crime was committed by Ukrainian special services, the Federal Security Service of Russia told TASS.

The perpetrator is a citizen of Ukraine, a woman, who fled to Estonia after the crime.

According to the FSB, a woman known as Natalya Vovk was following Dugina using a Mini Cooper, on which license plates had been changed several times. At the entrance to Russia, the car had the registration number of the Donetsk People's Republic E982ХН DPR. In Moscow, the car had a license plate of Kazakhstan — 172AJD02. Having killed Darya Dugina, the perpetrator left Russia with Ukrainian plate AH7771IP on the car.

The materials of the case were delivered to the Investigative Committee of Russia.

On August 20, at about 21:00, a Toyota Land Cruiser SUV exploded on Mozhayskoye Highway near the village of Bolshiye Vyazemy (Moscow's Odintsovo urban district). It was said that a bomb had been planted in the car in advance. The explosion killed Darya Dugina on the spot.

After the explosion, the vehicle driven by 30-year-old journalist and political scientist Daria Dugina caught fire. According to the Investigative Department, the crime had been plotted in advance.

Darya Dugina is the daughter of Russian philosopher Alexander Dugin. He heads the International Eurasian Movement. In 2014, US-based Foreign Policy publication put Alexander Dugin on the list of top 100 "global thinkers" of the modern-day world. From 2016 to 2017, he served as the editor-in-chief of the Tsargrad TV channel.

Darya Dugina graduated from the Faculty of Philosophy of Moscow State University and was a political observer of the International Eurasian Movement.

On Saturday, August 20, Darya Dugina, along with her father, attended Tradition Festival, which was held at the Zakharovo estate in the Odintsovo district of Moscow. Alexander Dugin spoke at the event as a lecturer. They left their cars in the festival parking lot, but there were no surveillance cameras installed there.

Officers of the Investigative Department assume that it was on the parking lot of the festival, where unknown individuals planted an explosive device in the car in which Dugin had arrived.

Andrei Krasnov, the head of the Russian Horizons public movement said that Darya Dugina normally used a different car. However, after the festival, she got behind the wheel of her father's car, whereas Alexander Dugin himself left the festival in another vehicle. Krasnov believes that the perpetrators aimed to kill Alexander Dugin either alone or together with his daughter.

Alexander Dugin was one of the fist people who arrived at the scene of the tragedy. He soon felt unwell and needed medical attention.

Dugin's colleague, political scientist Sergei Markov, believes that Ukraine's military intelligence, security services, as well as anti-Turkish forces, could be behind the crime (Alexander Dugin has actively supported Erdogan's policies over the past decades).

In turn, the head of the DPR, Denis Pushilin, believes that it was Ukrainian terrorists who committed the crime, but they intended to kill Alexander Dugin rather than his daughter.

 Editor: Dmitry Sudakov

Darya Dugina assassination: FSB says it was Ukrainian special services (pravda.ru)

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Ukrainian saboteurs explode power lines feeding Kursk Nuclear Power Plant

 Pravda,16.08.2022 15:57

In the Kursk region of Russia, Ukrainian saboteurs blew up power transmission lines that feed the Kursk nuclear power plant, the press service of the Federal Security Bureau of Russia said.

According to the agency, on August 4, 9 and 12, six explosions took place in the Kurchatov district of the Kursk region. The explosions were conducted targeting high-voltage power lines.

The Kursk Nuclear Power Plant supplies electricity on those lines to industry, transport, objects of life support, social infrastructure and the population of the region and neighboring subjects of Russia.

A malfunction in the operation of the nuclear power plant was reported.

A criminal case was filed into the incident under Part 2 of Article 205 (Terrorist Attack) of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Security forces are looking for saboteurs. The National Guard have strengthened the security of nuclear facilities.

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Editor: Dmitry Sudakov

Power lines feeding Kursk Nuclear Power plant exploded (pravda.ru)

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Zelensky Warns of Russian Escalation as Putin Ally's Daughter Is Killed

The Wall Street Journal, Matthew Luxmoore - Yesterday 12:57 PM React |

POKROVSK, Ukraine—

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned of a possible escalation by Russia ahead of Ukraine’s Independence Day as Moscow opened an investigation into a car explosion that killed the daughter of an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“We should be conscious of the fact that this week Russia may try to do something particularly nasty,” the Ukrainian leader said in his daily video address late on Saturday. “But Russia has done the same constantly each week throughout the past six months.”

Mr. Zelensky didn’t give details in his speech as to what he believed Moscow was planning, but tensions have been rising amid suspected Ukrainian attacks on military infrastructure on the Russian-controlled Crimean Peninsula and on Russian territory close to the border with Ukraine.

Officials in Kyiv have warned that Russia could stage renewed attacks to coincide with Independence Day on Wednesday, a major national holiday that will be taking place for the first time since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in February. Any large gathering creates a possible target, meaning the military parades of the past are out of the question, and no official celebrations are expected during this year’s anniversary.

In the northeastern Kharkiv region, part of which remains under Russian occupation, governor Oleh Synehubov announced a series of restrictions on movement this week including a 36-hour curfew beginning on the eve of Independence Day on Tuesday until early morning on Thursday.

“Please treat such steps with understanding and prepare to stay at home or in bomb shelters—this is our security,” he wrote on the Telegram social-media platform. “We won’t give the enemy the chance for any provocations. On the day of our independence we will be particularly alert.”

As the war nears the six-month mark, Russia is increasingly feeling the fallout. Strikes on key military facilities in Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula that Russia annexed in 2014, have brought the war close to home for many Russian citizens. They have also forced Russian-installed officials in Crimea to increase security, potentially drawing some forces away from the front lines in Ukraine.

While Ukraine hasn’t officially taken responsibility for the attacks, Ukrainian officials have privately confirmed Kyiv was behind the incidents. Footage posted to social media overnight into Sunday showed what appeared to be Russian air defenses firing from the peninsula, accompanied by comments from locals expressing surprise at the spectacle.

On Saturday evening, a car carrying the daughter of prominent Russian far-right ideologue Aleksandr Dugin was blown up outside Moscow. Daria Dugina was killed on the spot, and footage posted to social media later showed Mr. Dugin at the scene, holding his head in his hands as he stood amid what appeared to be debris from the explosion.

Mr. Dugin had for years called on Russia to expand its territory and re-establish its empire by seizing Ukraine. In 2014, as Russian-backed separatists were capturing government buildings in eastern Ukraine and Moscow fomented an armed conflict there, Mr. Dugin called for full-scale war against Russia’s neighbor. His daughter had been a key supporter of Eurasianism, Mr. Dugin’s unique brand of Russian nationalism. Mr. Dugin had met with French politician Marine Le Pen and other far-right leaders in Europe.

The U.K. government in July imposed sanctions on Ms. Dugina, describing her as “a frequent and high-profile contributor of disinformation in relation to Ukraine and the Russian invasion of Ukraine on various online platforms.”

Russia’s Investigative Committee said it had launched a probe into the incident, which it described as a preplanned ordered hit in which the Toyota Land Cruiser driven by Ms. Dugina exploded at around 9 p.m. local time as the likely result of a bomb placed inside. No one has claimed responsibility.

In the aftermath of the explosion, supporters of Mr. Dugin including Tsargrad, the TV channel on which he frequently appeared as a guest, called for retribution against Ukraine. “Decision-making centers!” wrote Margarita Simonyan, the editor of Russian state TV channel RT, in a Telegram post apparently referencing Mr. Putin’s earlier warnings that Moscow would strike key government buildings in Kyiv and elsewhere if the war escalates.

Kyiv has denied responsibility. “Ukraine has no connection to yesterday’s explosion because we are not a criminal state like Russia,” Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Mr. Zelensky, said in a TV interview.

Maria Zakharova, Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, said that if the attack was organized by Ukraine then Kyiv should be accused of state terrorism.

In another sign of the conflict possibly spilling over into the region, Albania, a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, said Sunday it was investigating the circumstances surrounding the arrest of two Russian nationals and a Ukrainian who were trying to enter a military weapons factory in central Albania.

Two Albanian soldiers were injured at the Gramsh plant Saturday when one of the Russians aimed what the Albanian Defense Ministry said was a chemical spray at their faces after trying to take photographs at the facility.

The Russian, 24 years old, was taken into police custody, while the two other suspects, 33 and 25, were detained outside the perimeter of the factory, the defense ministry said.

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama said all three are suspected of espionage, and antiterrorism police have joined the investigation along with Albanian intelligence agencies. The two injured Albanian guards are no longer in danger, the defense ministry said.

While Albania, which joined NATO in 2009, is a popular summer destination for Russian and Ukrainian tourists, the Gramsh plant is more than 40 miles from the nearest beaches where most visitors gather. Three weeks ago an explosion hit an ammunition depot in Bulgaria owned by an arms dealer who Bulgarian authorities say is a middleman for exports of munitions to Ukraine. The arrests in Albania could feed into an emerging debate in Europe about a possible ban on issuing tourist visas to Russian citizens.

The incidents come as Russia continues to stall in its military campaign to seize swaths of Ukraine’s east, with no significant territory gained since it captured the cities of Lysychansk and Severodonetsk more than six weeks ago. A Russian offensive to take the city of Bakhmut grinds on as Ukraine focuses some of its resources on preparations for a counteroffensive to liberate territory taken by Russia in the south, laying the groundwork with continued strikes on ammunition depots that are severing Russian supply lines.

“Let’s already today contemplate, see, and assess what road we have traveled,” Mr. Zelensky said in his video address. “How much we managed to achieve in this fight, to tear from the grasp of the Russian army, which for decades was thought to be unbeatable.”

Meanwhile, Russia has continued rocket strikes on major Ukrainian cities including Mykolaiv and Odessa in the south, where a deal brokered by Turkey and the United Nations to resume the export of grain from Black Sea ports is being carefully monitored by the Ukrainian military amid constant threats of Russian attack.

Officials in Odessa said that its air defenses had intercepted two Russian Kalibr missiles fired from Russian ships on the Black Sea early on Sunday, with three other missiles hitting an agricultural enterprise near the city and damaging grain silos there. Russia didn’t immediately comment on the allegations.

In Ukraine’s south, a Russian-held area that includes the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant has seen fierce fighting as Ukrainian troops located across the Dnipro River from the plant target Russian positions and Moscow pushes to shore up its defenses. Both sides have accused each other of endangering the plant and risking a nuclear incident.

Mr. Zelensky has said representatives of the U.N. and the International Atomic Energy Agency were ironing out the details of a mission that “could help restore safety” to the plant.

Russia has denied targeting the plant, where it is keeping an estimated 500 troops as part of a garrison holding the occupied Ukrainian city of Enerhodar. It has accused Ukraine of deliberately shelling the plant from Nikopol, across the river. The Kremlin has warned of similarly catastrophic consequences if fighting there continues, and the international community has urged Russia to return the plant to Ukrainian control.

Zelensky Warns of Russian Escalation as Putin Ally's Daughter Is Killed (msn.com)

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Explainer: What’s the Risk of Disaster at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant?

By Anastasia Tenisheva Updated: Aug. 15, 2022

Military activity near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southeastern Ukraine has caused increasing concern in recent days as cases of shelling rise and experts warn that the risks of a serious nuclear incident are very real.

“Any attack to nuclear plants is… suicidal,” United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said last week, as he called for International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors to be given access to the site.

Moscow and Kyiv have traded blame over strikes.

Ukrainian officials said last week 14 people were killed in one attack near the plant that damaged a pumping station and radiation sensors. Russia has accused Kyiv of “nuclear terrorism.”

Why is the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant important?

Located on the Dnipro river, the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is the largest nuclear complex of its kind in Europe and among the 10 largest in the world.

The facility has been under the control of Russian forces since they seized it in March, but it is still operated by technicians from Ukraine’s state nuclear company Energoatom.

Energoatom said last week that Russian forces were preparing to connect the plant to Crimea, annexed by Russia in 2014, and were damaging the plant by reorienting its electricity production. Located about 200 kilometers from the Crimean peninsula, the plant has six of Ukraine’s 15 reactors and is able to supply power to 4 million homes.

What is the situation at the moment?

While the plant has six reactors, only two are currently operating, Ukraine’s Energoatom said earlier this month. The IAEA said it has not been able to visit the plant since before the war began, but confirmed two reactors are currently connected to the grid.

Ukraine has said that three power lines at the facility were damaged and that “the plant is operating with only one production line, which is an extremely dangerous way of working.”

Russia has been accused of deploying 500 soldiers and positioning rocket launchers in the area — using the nuclear plant as a shield. Recent footage published by investigative journalists apparently shows military vehicles being driven inside the complex.

Moscow-installed officials in the Zaporizhzhia region have repeatedly said that Ukrainian forces are responsible for the strikes on the plant. 

Vladimir Rogov, a member of the pro-Russian regional administration, said Friday that the plant has had to reduce production and that it might be mothballed if shelling continues.

The same day, Rogov said a Ukrainian rocket landed 10 meters from the nuclear waste storage, but that the plant had not sustained any critical damage.

On Monday, the Russian-installed authorities proposed a ceasefire in the surrounding area.

What would a nuclear incident look like?   

The situation at Zaporizhzhia has brought back memories of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster in Soviet Ukraine in which hundreds of people were killed and injured and radioactive contamination spread across Europe.

Similarly, nuclear energy experts warn that any nuclear incident would affect not just Ukraine but also neighboring states, including Russia, Moldova, Belarus, Romania and Bulgaria.

Damage to critical infrastructure, including the reactors, is possible as a result of the fighting, said Andrei Ozharovsky, a radioactive waste safety specialist at the Russian Social-Ecological Union. 

“In case of an external force — like an intentional or unintentional missile strike — the primary circuit of the nuclear power plant could be damaged,” he said, adding that such kind of damage could affect the reactor pressure vessel and lead to an explosion.

“In case of an explosion — given the fact the plant is located near the river — a radiation release would potentially affect hundreds of kilometers around the plant,” Ozharovsky told The Moscow Times by phone.

However, radiochemistry expert Boris Zhuikov said a disaster on the scale of Chernobyl is unlikely as the plants have two very different types of reactors.

“It’s very difficult to destroy the reactor even intentionally — it has to be repeatedly hit at the same spot, but even then, the scale of the catastrophe would be different,” Zhuikov said. 

“The Zaporizhzhia plant has better protection and there are currently only two working reactors — these factors reduce potential risks. But, of course, a missile strike can lead to a serious accident,” he said. “The scale of that accident would depend on many factors — how it would happen, how the plant staff would react, how quickly residents would be evacuated.”

“The question is not whether radioactive [elements] would get into the air and water. An increase in radiation background for a limited time doesn’t pose danger. The question is what kind of radioactivity and what amount of radioactivity,” Zhuikov added.

Is there nuclear waste stored at the plant?

Yes – and this poses another risk. According to experts, if shelling hit the nuclear waste stored at the Zaporizhzhia plant, it could cause a major leak.

“If missile strikes hit the nuclear waste storage, then [nuclear] pollution could spread through air and water,” said Ozharovsky.

Ukraine warned earlier this month that the plant stores 1,200 tons of nuclear fuel, adding that “contamination [in the event of an explosion] could be quite high.” 

What has the international reaction been?

More than 40 countries have called on Russia to withdraw its forces from the plant and allow the UN's nuclear watchdog to carry out a verification process.

The IAEA has said it received contradictory information from Ukraine and Russia about the status of the facility, its operations and the damage it has sustained.

The international nuclear watchdog has repeatedly called for both sides to stop all military activity at the site, adding that there is “no immediate threat to nuclear safety” but the situation “could change at any moment.” 

“I ask that both sides of this armed conflict cooperate with the IAEA and allow for a mission to the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant as soon as possible,” said IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi last week. “Time is of the essence.”

Explainer: What’s the Risk of Disaster at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant? - The Moscow Times

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