The Washington Post reported that Ukraine’s spy service orchestrated the assassination of Darya Dugina, the 29-year-old daughter of prominent Russian ideologue Alexander Dugin. Dugina was killed in a car bombing on the outskirts of Moscow in August 2022. The report details a sophisticated plot involving bomb parts concealed within a cat carrier smuggled by a mother and her 12-year-old daughter driving into Russia from Estonia.

The intricate operation involved the mother taking an apartment in the same complex as Dugina, surveilling her in the lead-up to the attack. While the bomb was intended for Dugin, he fortuitously entered a different vehicle. Immediately after the incident, Russia accused Ukrainian spies of orchestrating the attack, a claim Kyiv vehemently denied.

In another geopolitical development, Russia criticised US President Joe Biden’s assertion that Washington should be the driving force in a new “world order.” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov expressed agreement with the concept of a “new world order” but insisted that any such system should be free from the concentration of power in the hands of one state. Peskov’s remarks were in response to Biden’s recent speech, where he highlighted the need for a new global order and emphasised the waning influence of the existing world order. The Kremlin spokesperson challenged the perceived “American-centric” vision, asserting that the world should not revolve solely around the United States.