The CIA has been linked to a shadow war taking place against Russia that has resulted in civilians being killed.
That’s according to the Washington Post, which detailed an August 2022 operation orchestrated by Ukraine’s domestic security service, the SBU, where Ukrainian operatives with deep ties to the CIA set up a car bombing that killed the daughter of a Russian nationalist who had urged his country to “kill, kill, kill” Ukrainians.
The bomb that killed Daria Dugina was intended for her father — they were expected to travel together as they departed a cultural festival and ended up taking separate vehicles — and is part of what officials in Kyiv refer to as “liquidations” being used as a weapon of war, the newspaper reported.
Ukraine officials have said that while the father Alexander Dugin was the principal target, his daughter was no innocent victim because she was a vocal supporter of the invasion.
“She is the daughter of the father of Russian propaganda,” a security official said, according to the Post, further explaining that the operation shows enemies of Ukraine that “punishment is imminent even for those who think they are untouchable.”
Ukraine’s spy services have also twice bombed the bridge connecting Russia to occupied Crimea, killing five people in October 2022, the newspaper reported, noting that SBU director Vasyl Malyuk acknowledged earlier this year they had placed a powerful explosive inside a truck hauling industrial-size rolls of cellophane and that it involved unwitting accomplices, including the truck driver killed in the explosion.
More from the Post:
Over the past 20 months, the SBU and its military counterpart, the GUR, have carried out dozens of assassinations against Russian officials in occupied territories, alleged Ukrainian collaborators, military officers behind the front lines and prominent war supporters deep inside Russia. Those killed include a former Russian submarine commander jogging in a park in the southern Russian city of Krasnodar and a militant blogger at a cafe in St. Petersburg, according to Ukrainian and Western officials. […]
Ukraine’s affinity for lethal operations has complicated its collaboration with the CIA, raising concerns about agency complicity and creating unease among some officials in Kyiv and Washington.
The elite teams of Ukrainian operatives involved in the lethal operations drawn from directorates that were formed, trained and equipped in close partnership with the CIA, according to
Citing current and former Ukrainian and U.S. officials, the article said the elite teams of Ukrainian operatives involved in the lethal operations were “drawn from directorates that were formed, trained and equipped in close partnership with the CIA.”
Dozens of assassinations have reportedly been carried out by the SBU and its military counterpart, the GUR, over the past 20 months against Russian officials, alleged collaborators, military officers behind the front lines and prominent war supporters deep inside Russia.
“Since 2015, the CIA has spent tens of millions of dollars to transform Ukraine’s Soviet-formed services into potent allies against Moscow, officials said,” the Post reported. “The agency has provided Ukraine with advanced surveillance systems, trained recruits at sites in Ukraine as well as the United States, built new headquarters for departments in Ukraine’s military intelligence agency, and shared intelligence on a scale that would have been unimaginable before Russia illegally annexed Crimea and fomented a separatist war in eastern Ukraine. The CIA maintains a significant presence in Kyiv, officials said.”
U.S. intelligence officials stressed to the paper that the CIA has had no involvement in Ukraine’s choice of targets, claiming its focus is on helping Ukraine better gather intelligence on a dangerous adversary.