Found dead the presumed author of the attack in Monaco against a Ukrainian oligarch

BarcelonaThe Ukrainian oligarch Vadim Ermolaev, his wife and his thirteen-year-old daughter were victims last week of a sudden explosion as they entered the building where they live, on Révérend Père Louis Frolla street, in Monaco. According to police sources, the detonation was caused by a device hidden in a backpack that targeted this businessman with a troubled past, leaving him critically injured, as was his wife. On Friday, the Monaco Prosecutor's Office identified Anastasiia Berezovska, a 39-year-old Ukrainian woman, as the presumed perpetrator of the attack. Berezovska, disguised as a man, left the device at the door and detonated it remotely when Ermolaev, his wife, and his daughter arrived at the building, according to the prosecutor. The suspect, who allegedly did not act alone, fled on foot to France and was seen in Frankfurt days later.

This Tuesday, in a twist of events reminiscent of a noir novel, the Ukrainian newspaper Ukrainska Pravda reported that the suspect, who was subject to an Interpol wanted alert, has been found dead in Kyiv. Ukrainian police detail that she returned to Ukraine on July 1st and that her body was buried near the Ukrainian capital after being shot, which would have been the cause of death.

But the plot thickens. Ukrainian authorities have arrested two individuals connected to Berezovska's death, who are none other than a member of Ukraine's intelligence directorate and a former police officer, according to sources from the same media outlet. Both allegedly had contact with her in recent days, during which large sums of money were also allegedly transferred to her bank accounts and in cryptocurrencies. Police searched their homes and workplaces and found torture material in the basement of one of the two accused. The hypothesis being worked on is that it was a conspiracy.

This accusation complicates one of the Monaco Prosecutor's Office's lines of investigation, which was working on the hypothesis that the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU, for its Ukrainian initials) had been involved in the assassination of Vadim Ermolaev.

A magnate accused of treason

The oligarch's trajectory highlights a greater appetite for money than any nationalist fervor. Originally from Dnipro, he became one of the richest businessmen in the country thanks to his business group, Alef, which is one of the largest real estate developers in the city. In fact, it is estimated that he has a fortune of over 300 million dollars, which has led him to appear on the Forbes list of the 100 richest people in Ukraine on several occasions, although he renounced his Ukrainian citizenship to move to the tax haven with the best climate in Europe.

He obtained part of his capital thanks to a liquor business, produced partially in Crimea, and when Russia illegally occupied this Black Sea peninsula, continuing his activity led him to be accused of treason. With the start of the Russian aggression in Ukraine, the Security Service of Ukraine included him on the blacklist of wealthy citizens believed to have fled the country. He is currently sanctioned by the government of Volodymyr Zelensky precisely because his companies in Crimea paid taxes to the Russian Federation.

Furthermore, Yermolayev is part of what is known as the Monaco Battalion, the ironic name given by the Ukrainian press to the group of Ukrainian businessmen, politicians, and oligarchs who settled on the French coast after the Russian invasion. While his male compatriots between the ages of 16 and 60 are obliged to remain in the country, pending the general mobilization decreed by Zelensky, these tycoons lead a life of luxury abroad, which has been viewed with great displeasure domestically.