Woman Suspected of Carrying out Monaco Bombing of Ukrainian Tycoon Found Dead
By Michael Drummond
The death of Anastasiia Berezovska is shrouded in intrigue, including cryptocurrency payments and an alleged confession of a serving security officer.
A Ukrainian woman believed to have set off a bomb targeting a tycoon with links to Russia has been found dead with gunshot wounds in a killing apparently carried out by a Ukrainian spy, it is claimed.
Interpol put out an alert after Vadym Iermolaiev was said to have been targeted in a blast in Monaco last week.
The attack injured three people and sparked a manhunt across multiple countries.
Anastasiia Berezovska, a 39-year-old from Ukraine, was named as the suspect in an Interpol red notice but has now been found dead in Ukraine, the country’s security service (SBU) has said.
In a lengthy statement, the SBU outlined what appears to be a complex and convoluted investigation, involving a serving intelligence officer and cryptocurrency wallets.
Sky News has been unable to independently verify the account as outlined by the SBU.
Anastasiia Berezovska was found dead in Ukraine. Pic:Interpol
The security service says it was able to establish who Berezovska had been in contact with and traced her movements, which showed she arrived in Ukraine on 1 July.
Contacts included members of her family and two men – the first a former law enforcement officer and the second a serving officer in Ukraine’s military intelligence agency (HUR).
The SBU said it has information that both men repeatedly transferred money to Berezovska’s cryptocurrency wallets and bank accounts, possibly implicating them as accomplices in the attempted murder in Monaco.
Urgent investigative actions and searches were carried out, the security service added.
The damaged window of a residential building following the explosion in Monaco. Pic: Reuters
The SBU said that, during these investigations, the serving HUR officer stated that he had killed Berezovska together with the other suspect.
He also said that he had not informed his superiors about his contacts with Berezovska, the money transfers to her, or any of his other actions, and that he had acted on his own initiative, the SBU alleged.
During a search of the former law enforcement officer’s residence, investigators also discovered a basement that resembled a torture chamber, the SBU claimed.
Both suspects have been detained on suspicion of committing murder by prior conspiracy as a group.
Berezovska’s body was found with gunshot wounds to the head along with spent pistol cartridge cases.
