Russia’s Interior Ministry Monday released a video on Monday showing Darya Trepova, the main suspect behind the murder of prominent military reporter Vladlen Tatarsky, speaking to security forces after her arrest. Tatarksy was killed in a blast in a St. Petersburg café the day before.
In the clip, Trepova admits that she “brought in the statuette that exploded” in the café in the city's historic center, killing the blogger, whose real name is Maksim Fomin, and injuring 32 people.
When asked whether she understood why she had been detained by law enforcement, the suspect said that it was for “being at the scene where Vladlen Tatarsky was murdered.” Trepova, 26, also said that she would “explain later” where she had obtained the figurine from.
Trepova was arrested earlier in the day, hours after her name was included on Russia’s wanted list. According to Irina Volk, the Interior Ministry’s spokeswoman, she was detained at her rental apartment in St. Petersburg during a police operation.
Russian authorities accused Ukrainian special services of having orchestrated the blast. On Monday, the National Anti-Terrorism Committee (NAK) said that the “terrorist attack” was staged with the involvement of “individuals who collaborated with [Alexey] Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation,” referring to a Russian opposition figure who is currently serving a lengthy prison sentence for embezzlement.
The Anti-Corruption Foundation was designated as an extremist organization in Russia in 2021 and subsequently liquidated.
Commenting on the tragedy, Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov noted that Ukraine “very well might have orchestrated” Tatarsky’s murder. “Russia is facing a terrorist regime. This is a regime that supports terrorist activities… and has been behind the killing of people for many years starting in 2014, and that’s why the special military operation is underway,” he said.