Suspect in murder of propagandist Tatarsky detained – Russia's Investigative Committee

Darya Trepova, a suspect in the murder of Russian propagandist Vladlen Tatarsky, has been detained in St Petersburg, Russia.

Source: Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation; Fontanka local news agency

Quote from Russia’s Investigative Committee: "Darya Trepovahas been detained on suspicion of involvement in an explosion at a cafe in St Petersburg by officers from the Investigative Committee of Russia, together with operational services."

Details: According to Fontanka, a young woman has been detained in a rented apartment in the Vyborgsky District of St Petersburg.

At the same time, RBC, citing a source in the Russian Internal Affairs Ministry, reported that Trepova might not have known that the statuette she gave to Tatarsky contained an explosive substance.

As the source states, the criminal investigation department does not rule out that the young woman was used to commit a terrorist attack.

He also said that Trepova had previously contacted Tatarsky and attended events with his participation.

Dmitry Rylov, the suspect's husband, said that she had been framed and that she "absolutely did not understand the purpose" of the bust figure she had given to the propagandist Tatarsky.

Background:

• On 2 April, an explosion occurred in a cafe in the centre of St Petersburg that had previously belonged to Yevgeny Prigozhin, owner of the Wagner Group Private Military Company, killing "war correspondent" (military blogger) Vladlen Tatarsky and injuring 30 other people.
• The ISW stated that the killing of the propagandist "may have been intended as a warning to Prigozhin (the founder of the Wagner PMC), who has been increasingly questioning core Kremlin talking points about the war in Ukraine and even obliquely signalling an interest in the Russian presidency, whether in competition with Putin or as his successor".

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