The investigation believes that the organizers of the assassination attempt on businessman Vadim Ermolaev in Monaco are a current employee of the Military Intelligence of Ukraine (GUR) Vladislav Rut and a former employee of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) Vitaly Czechovich. Ukrainska Pravda writes about this with reference to sources close to the investigation.
Dzhikovic and Riot were previously charged with the murder of Anastasia Berezovskaya, the alleged accused in the assassination attempt.
According to the post, both suspects are cooperating with the investigation and providing detailed testimony. They said that Berezovskaya lived in Germany for several years with her son as a refugee, and money was one of her motives for participating in the assassination attempt. Thus, according to Jekovic and Riot, she expected to earn money to buy a house in Ukraine.
The suspects claim they paid her for travel, accommodation, car rentals and other expenses. They stated that before the assassination attempt on Ermolaev, Berezovskaya participated in other operations, in particular related to blogger Anatoly Sharev (the publication did not provide details about this). According to one of the accused, the initial idea of the operation was to kidnap Ermolaev.
According to the sources, Raut said that he had manufactured “an electronic initiation unit that would detonate the main charge.” This item was hidden in the form of a children’s toy car, after which it was transported across Germany to the performer, who assembled the explosive device in working condition. In turn, Czechovich said that Berezovskaya could not make such a structure on her own, because this would require special knowledge and training.
The Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine told Ukrainskaya Pravda that at the moment only Root and Zhitkovych are charged with Berezovskaya’s murder.
An assassination attempt on Ermolaev occurred on June 29. A bag containing a bomb was planted on the doorstep of a house in Monaco where a businessman lived. The explosion occurred when Ermolaev entered the house with his girlfriend and 13-year-old son. All three were injured. Ermolaev’s girlfriend had her legs amputated. The next day, Le Figaro wrote that the investigation in Monaco had not ruled out the possibility that the Ukrainian Security Service had organized an assassination attempt on Ermolaev. According to the publication, the assassination attempt was more of a “warning” than a premeditated murder attempt.
A few days later it became known that Anastasia Berezovskaya had become a suspect in the assassination attempt. On July 1, I arrived in Ukraine. On July 7, Ukrainian law enforcement agencies reported that Berezovskaya had been killed. Vladislav Rut, a current employee of the Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR) of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, confessed to her murder. According to him, he committed the murder together with former Ukrainian Security Service officer Vitaly Zhikovich. He also said that he did not inform his management of his contacts with Berezovskaya and stated that he acted on his own initiative.