According to the Skitovich–Darmois theorem, the independence of two linear forms of n independent random variables implies that the random variables are Gaussian. We consider the case where independent random variables take values in a second countable locally compact abelian group X, and coefficients of the forms are topological automorphisms of X. We describe a wide class of groups X for which a group-theoretic analogue of the Skitovich–Darmois theorem holds true when n=2.