Ukraine Intelligence Officer Kills Monaco Bomb Suspect; SBU Role in Bombing Under Scrutiny
Source: X | @globalbrief_now
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
A Ukrainian Security Bureau (SBU) officer confessed to killing Anastasiia Berezovska, the primary suspect in the June 29 Monaco bomb attack targeting sanctioned Ukrainian oligarch Vadym Yermolaiev; French and Monegasque investigators are now examining whether the SBU organized the original attack.
ANALYSIS
The Monaco bombing occurred June 29 outside Yermolaiev's residential building, injuring the billionaire, his partner, and his 13-year-old son in a device concealed in a backpack. Yermolaiev, a Ukrainian national, is under European Union sanctions over business dealings that benefited Russia. Surveillance footage identified Berezovska, 39, as the primary suspect; she was subsequently tracked to Ukraine, where she was found dead near Kyiv on July 9. A Ukrainian military intelligence officer confessed to killing her, and the SBU acknowledged the officer's involvement.
The confession has drawn sharp scrutiny from Western investigators. French newspaper Le Figaro reported that Monaco prosecutors are actively pursuing the theory that the SBU organized the attack on Yermolaiev rather than merely apprehending a suspect after the fact. If confirmed, the incident would represent an allied intelligence service conducting lethal direct action against a civilian target in a neutral European country and then eliminating the principal witness before Western law enforcement could question her. The intersection of Ukrainian state intelligence interests, Russian sanctions evasion by a Ukrainian national, and intelligence operations on European soil is a pattern that Western security services are tracking closely as it touches on ally accountability and the operational boundaries of partner intelligence agencies.
SOURCES
