Suspect duped in bombing that killed Russian military blogger

Darya Trepova said she acted on the orders of a man in Ukraine she knew by the nickname "Gestalt" (German for "Shape"), who sent her money and instructions in the months before blogger Vladlen Tatarsky was murdered on April 2 last year.

Darya Trepova, suspected of killing Russian military blogger Maxim Fomin, is escorted before a hearing in Moscow, Russia, April 4, 2023. Photo: REUTERS

Russia has accused Ukraine of being behind the murder of blogger Tatarsky. Senior Ukrainian officials have neither accepted responsibility nor denied involvement, while Ukrainian presidential aide Mykhailo Podolyak has described the matter as an internal matter in Russia.

Tatarsky was killed by a bomb hidden in a figurine given to him by Trepova in a cafe where he was speaking to an audience of up to 100 people.

The statue bears a striking resemblance to Tatarsky. Witnesses told the trial that the blogger flipped it over in his hands before it exploded, killing him instantly and injuring dozens of people.

The identity of the person nicknamed "Gestalt" remains unclear.

During her trial in St Petersburg on Tuesday, Trepova, 26, said she was introduced to the man known as “Gestalt” by a Ukrainian-born journalist named Roman Popkov, whom she connected with on Twitter (now X). She told Popkov that she opposed Russia’s invasion and sympathized with Ukraine, and was seeking his help to travel to Ukraine and establish herself as a journalist.

Russian investigators have charged Popkov in absentia with "organizing the commission of a terrorist act". He has denied any involvement.

Trepova said that, under the guidance of "Gestalt", she attended Tatarsky's talks in early 2023 and introduced herself to him, identifying herself as an art student named Anastasia Kriulina.

In March, Gestalt mailed her the Tatarsky figurine, with instructions to personally deliver it to the militant blogger. She told the court that she thought it might be a bomb at the time, recalling the case of Darya Dugina, a journalist who supported Russia's military campaign and died when her car blew up near Moscow in 2022.

“I was very scared and asked Gestalt: ‘Isn’t this like Daria Dugina?’ He said no, just wiretaps and surveillance equipment,” Trepova said. “Handing over wiretaps is an invasion of privacy and illegal. I was very worried about this and thought it could be a bomb.”

Trepova went ahead with plans to give the statue to Tatarsky because "I didn't think they could trap me like this" and suggested that the purpose of eavesdropping on Tatarsky was to learn more about what he knew about the war in Ukraine, which she opposed.

Trepova said that after the bomb exploded, she called Gestalt to confront him. "I cursed at him and said that there were people injured there and I realized that they did this and that I had something to do with it," she said.

“I kept swearing. He said, ‘When you come to Ukraine and visit us, you can hit me.’ This made me very angry,” she said in tears at the hearing.

Mai Anh (according to Reuters)

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/nu-nghi-pham-noi-bi-lua-trong-vu-danh-bom-sat-hai-blogger-quan-su-nga-post281276.html