Woman confesses delivering bomb to slain Russian blogger Vladlen Tatarsky

The woman suspected of assassinating a propagandist has confessed to delivering a bomb hidden inside a statuette, as her husband claimed the 26-year-old was “set up” by Russia’s FSB.

Speculation has swirled over who was behind the explosion in St Petersburg that killed Vladen Tatarsky, with the security services of Ukraine and Russia both having possible motives for wanting the blogger dead, amid Kremlin in-fighting over the war.

Russia’s notorious FSB security service was quick to announce it had detained Daria Trepova, who was described by Russian state media as an opponent of the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine.

'I brought the figurine that exploded there'

In a video released by a Telegram channel with close connections to the FSB, Ms Trepova is asked by her interrogator if she understood why she had been arrested.

Ms Trepova then sighs and confirms that she was being arrested in connection with the murder of Tatarsky.

“I brought the figurine that exploded there,” she said, before refusing to answer any more questions on camera.

Another video from her arrest panned across a sculptor's studio in the building where Ms Trepova lived. Commentary suggested that this was where the hollowed-out bust that concealed the bomb that killed Tatarsky had been made.

But Dmitry Rylov, Ms Trepova’s husband and a fellow activist, said that he thought his wife was being set up by the security services.

“I am completely sure that she would never have been able to do something like this on her own,” Mr Rylov told the SVTV News project. “Yes, Daria and I do not support the war in Ukraine but we believe that such actions are unacceptable."

Video delivering a package to the cafe

Pro-Kremlin Telegram channels published several photos of Ms Trepova as well as a video of her delivering a package to the cafe where Tatarsky was killed. Eyewitnesses said that they saw Ms Trepova give a bust containing the bomb to Tatarsky before it exploded.

“The explosive was activated, most likely with the help of a radio signal,” Baza reported. “The bust of Tatarsky was an ideal way to disguise it as the IED easily fitted inside its hollow.”

Baza also said that the blast was “directional”, which means that the timing had to be accurate and that the person who pressed the detonator was watching the talk.

Quoting security sources, Baza said that Ms Trepova was a member of various feminist groups.

It also said that Ms Trepova’s social media feeds showed that she had been fantasising about suicide since Russia invaded Ukraine and that, revolted by the Kremlin, she planned to leave the country, like hundreds of thousands of other Russians.

Russian media reported that Ms Trepova's mother and sister were also interrogated by the security forces and that the Kremlin had asked the Uzbek authorities to arrest Mr Rylov, who is living in exile in Uzbekistan.

Tatarsky was a rabidly anti-Ukraine propagandist who posted videos from Russian forces fighting on the frontline in Ukraine. He had 560,000 followers and was known to be a close ally of Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Kremlin’s Wagner mercenary unit.

Mr Prigozhin owned the cafe where Tatarsky was killed. He has made several powerful enemies within Russian business, the Russian establishment and the Russian security services and some commentators have speculated that Tatarsky may have been killed as a warning to Mr Prigozhin.

Wagner flag raised over building in Bakhmut

Hours after the murder, Mr Prigozhin raised a Wagner flag over the main administrative building in Bakhmut, the town at the focus of fighting on Ukraine’s eastern front, claiming the capture of the town and paying tribute to Tatarsky.

“This is the city administration building and this is the Russian flag. This is for Tatarsky, his good memory,” he said in a grainy video shot on a camera with night-vision equipment.

Ukrainian commanders have denied that Wagner now controls Bakhmut.

Later, through his Telegram channel, Mr Prigozhin also said that he doubted official allegations that linked Ukraine to the assassination.

“I would not blame the Kyiv regime for these actions. I think that there is a group of radicals unrelated to the government. That's how I would describe it,” he said.

Despite denials from the Ukrainian government, Russia’s National Anti-Terorrism Committee blamed Kyiv for the murder of Tatarsky.

The murder “was planned by the special services of Ukraine with the involvement of agents from among persons collaborating with the so-called Navalny Anti-Corruption Fund”, it said.

Ukrainian officials have dismissed this as nonsense and said that the murder was linked to fracturing inside Russia and domestic disputes.

Ms Trepova was briefly detained on February 24, 2022, the first day of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, at an anti-war protest.

Tatarsky, whose real name was Maxim Fomin, was the second high-profile Kremlin propagandist to be killed in mainland Russia since the Kremlin ordered its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

A car bomb killed Darya Dugina, a pro-war journalist, outside Moscow in August. The US intelligence services blamed Ukrainian special forces for killing Dugina.