Monaco IDs suspect in bomb attack on Ukrainian oligarch

Monaco IDs suspect in bomb attack on Ukrainian oligarch

Authorities have issued an Interpol Red Notice and arrest warrant against a woman from Ukraine identified as suspect in a bombing that injured a Ukrainian-born businessman sanctioned by Kyiv and two other people.

Monaco authorities have issued an Interpol Red Notice for a Ukrainain woman believed to have carried out a parcel bombing earlier this week that seriously wounded a Ukrainian-born oligarch and two others, including a 13-year-old.

An Interpol Red Notice is a request to locate and provisionally arrest a suspect. It is not an international arrest warrant.

The alert lists three charges: "attempted murder, placing an explosive device in a public place with criminal intent" and "criminal conspiracy."

What else do we know about the suspect and case?

The Red Notice identifies the suspect as a 39-year-old woman, Anastasiaa Berezovska, and Ukrainain national.

She is thought to have been dressed as — or at least mistaken for — a man around the time of the crime; initial reports based on CCTV footage in Monaco and as the suspect crossed the open border to France had referred to a male suspect.

The Interpol notice says Berezoska has dark hair and a tatoo, "possibly a snake," on her right arm. It also specifies that she speaks German.

The Reuters news agency on Friday cited an unnamed judicial source in Monaco as saying that she had since been spotted in Germany.

Authorities in Monaco had first issued an arrest warrant on Thursday.

"An arrest warrant has been issued for the suspect, who will be the subject of an Interpol Red Notice from this evening," the prosecutor's office said.

An Interpol Red Notice is a request to locate and provisionally arrest a suspect. It is not an international arrest warrant.

Monaco's public prosecutor, Stephane Thibault, said investigators had identified the suspect through "effective international criminal cooperation, both police and judicial."

What happened to Ukrainian oligarch Vadym Yermolaiev?

On Monday night, a blast at the entrance of a residential building in Monaco near the French border injured three people, two of them severely.

While Monaco authorities have not officially identified the victims, multiple media reports said the apparent target was Vadym Yermolaiev , a 58-year-old businessman born in Ukraine who holds Cypriot citizenship and is a Monaco resident.

The other two injured were Yermolaiev's partner and teenage son. By Wednesday, the businessman was no longer in a life-threatening condition, while his partner had not yet stabilized. The 13-year-old was reportedly stable.

Kyiv imposed sanctions on him in 2023, alleging he continued business activities in Russian-annexed Crimea and paid taxes to Moscow after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Monaco: Looking beyond the glam and hype

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Edited by: Karl Sexton

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