Monaco assassination plot takes a new turn
A woman suspected of plotting to assassinate a Ukrainian-Cypriot businessman in Monaco has been found dead in Ukraine. Two men with ties to Ukraine's intelligence
A woman suspected of plotting to assassinate a Ukrainian-Cypriot businessman in Monaco has been found dead in Ukraine. Two men with ties to Ukraine's intelligence services have now been brought into custody. On July 7, the body of 39-year-old Ukrainian national Anastasia Berezovska was found near Kyiv. She was suspected of plotting an assassination attempt against Ukrainian-Cypriot businessman Vadym Yermolaiev, who is originally from the city of Dnipro, in Monaco. A few days later, two men with ties to Ukraine's intelligence services were arrested on suspicion of killing Berezovska. What is known about the case, which could result in life sentences for the suspects and trigger an international scandal for Ukraine? Murder of an assassination suspect Prosecutors in Monaco believe Berezovska attempted to kill Yermolaiev, his partner and their 13-year-old son. All three were injured when an explosive device detonated on the evening of June 29. After reviewing surveillance footage, investigators concluded that Berezovska had monitored the victims over an extended period of time. She eventually placed a backpack containing explosives at the entrance to their home. The device was detonated remotely using a cellphone. Immediately afterward, she left the French Riviera. On July 6, her body was found in a forest near Kyiv. Berezovska lived with her son in Hofheim, near Frankfurt, Germany. After fleeing Ukraine, she was granted temporary protection in Germany. According to a relative, she and her son lived modestly, relied on social benefits and were learning German. Before moving to Germany, Berezovska had spent her entire life in Ukraine, first in the village of Horodyshche, where her mother still lives, and later in the city of Zhytomyr.
Little is known about her professional background. Entrance to the house where Vadym Yermolaiev lived is blocked off after the explosion Image: Valery Hache/AFP From Monaco to Zhytomyr A relative told reporters that about a week before the assassination attempt, Anastasia Berezovska sent her 7-year-old son to stay with her mother in Ukraine. She herself apparently drove south from the Frankfurt metropolitan area. According to the news outlet Nice-Matin, traffic cameras captured her driving near the scene of the attack on June 26. Immediately after the explosion, Berezovska left the French Riviera and returned to the Frankfurt region the following day. She did not stay there for long. On July 1, she crossed into Ukraine by bus and traveled to her mother's home in the village of Horodyshche. Meanwhile, investigators in Monaco spotted a person wearing a dark suit in surveillance footage. They suspected it was a woman disguised as a man. After reviewing additional video recordings, suspicion fell on a heavily built woman with a snake tattoo on her shoulder. The car she had been using was located in Germany, and later that same evening police in the German state of Hesse searched her vacant apartment. The following morning, Berezovska unexpectedly asked her mother to drive her to a gas station near Zhytomyr. Her mother later told Ukrainian police that she had done so. A gas station employee told investigators he called a taxi for the woman to take her toward Kyiv. The taxi driver, in turn, said he dropped her off around 9:30 a.m. on the highway near Makariv in the Kyiv region.
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