Ukrainian agent accused of murdering Monaco bomb suspect changes story
Ukrainian agent accused of murdering Monaco bomb suspect changes storyImage caption, Security was tight inside the courtroom in Kyiv on ThursdayBySarah RainsfordEastern Europe correspondent, Reporting...
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A significant story is unfolding on the international scene. Ukrainian agent accused of murdering Monaco bomb suspect changes storyImage caption, Security was tight inside the courtroom in Kyiv on ThursdayBySarah RainsfordEastern Europe correspondent, Reporting fromKyivPublished22 minutes agoA Ukrainian intelligence agent who confessed to killing the woman suspected of trying to assassinate a multimillionaire and his family in Monaco last week, has now claimed he did not pull the trigger. In court in Kyiv for a custody hearing on Thursday, Vladyslav Reut – who a few days ago led investigators to Anastasiia Berezovska's grave in the woods – said that he "categorically denied" committing her murder and blamed his alleged accomplice instead. This murky case is capturing attention because Reut is an active and decorated officer of Ukraine's military intelligence agency, GUR, and his co-defendant Vitalii Zhykovych worked for the SBU security service until recently.
On Thursday evening President Volodymyr Zelensky said he would have "additional relevant reports" to share in the coming days. But the motive for the Monaco blast that targeted Vadim Yermolayev remains unclear. The businessman, who made his money in cognac and real estate, had renounced his Ukrainian citizenship some years ago.
The Details
He has since been sanctioned by Kyiv for continuing to do business in Crimea after it was taken by Russia. Now his would-be assassin has been murdered herself. The two suspects were brought into court for separate hearings with their hands cuffed, surrounded by heavily armed security officers in balaclavas.
Both kept their hoods up throughout proceedings and their faces covered by masks so large only their eyes were still visible. They sat hunched inside the glass courtroom cage for most of the hearings, backs to the line of TV cameras. Image caption, Vladyslav Reut, 34, in court on ThursdayIn court, the prosecutor clarified that Anastasiia Berezovska had arrived in Ukraine two days after the blast in Monaco, and before she had been identified as the prime suspect in the case.
She crossed by bus from Poland. Once alerted to the allegations against her, investigators seem to have honed in quickly on Zhykovych, 50, and Reut, 34, using Berezovska's phone records. They then identified cash and cryptocurrency transfers that the two had made to her accounts.
What Experts Say
Straight away, Reut appears to have confessed to shooting Berezovska. He then took investigators to the spot where he had buried her body in the woods west of Kyiv, in a grave covered with branches. But in court just days later, the GUR agent announced that he wanted to "tell the truth".
He then shifted the blame squarely onto Zhykovych. "I fought enemy combatants while defending my country," he stressed. "I would never intentionally murder an innocent civilian woman.
The development has drawn wide international attention, with diplomatic circles watching closely.
