Monaco bombing: Death of the snake tattoo woman reopens the question of the mastermind

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New details are emerging about the woman with the snake tattoo who is suspected of carrying out the Monaco bombing targeting a Ukrainian businessman.

Ukrainian-born businessman Vadym Yermolaïev survived the explosion that occurred outside his home in Monaco on June 29.

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The blast injured Yermolaïev, who holds Cypriot citizenship, as well as his partner and his 13-year-old son. All three were taken to hospital.

At the time, the suspected attacker disappeared. Investigators initially described the perpetrator as a “man” wearing a “black cap.”

Three days later, however, surveillance footage and investigative work led authorities to Anastasia Berezovska, a 39-year-old Ukrainian woman. According to the authorities, she had surveilled Yermolaïev and planned the attack before fleeing through several countries to Ukraine.

Several days later, she was found dead and buried in a shallow grave in a forest near Kyiv, turning the case into an even greater mystery over who was behind the assassination attempt.

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The woman with the snake tattoo

According to investigators, Berezovska was living as a refugee in Hofheim, a small town near Frankfurt, Germany, amid difficult financial circumstances.

She was divorced from her first husband and separated from her second. She had a seven-year-old son.

Before the bombing, she travelled to Monaco and spent several days monitoring Yermolaïev’s home. Surveillance cameras captured her repeatedly visiting the area in disguises, including a black cap and a loose-fitting jacket.

On one occasion, she appeared in her ordinary clothes, revealing her face and the prominent snake tattoo on her arm. This helped investigators establish her identity.

Sources familiar with the Ukrainian investigation told CNN that they believed Berezovska was most likely a paid operative, while declining to speculate about the identity of the mastermind behind the plot.

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This is where the mystery begins

Prosecutors said surveillance cameras recorded her stopping outside Yermolaïev’s home several times between June 26, her 39th birthday, and the bombing three days later.

By the time Monaco authorities had identified her and issued an international arrest warrant, she had already entered Ukrainian territory.

After news of her identification became public, she left her Ukrainian village again. According to court documents, she took a taxi to a location on the highway leading to Kyiv, where a black car was waiting for her.

Two men were inside the vehicle: Vladyslav Riout and Vitali Jekovitch.

Ukrainian prosecutors say the two men had been in contact with Berezovska during the months preceding the attack and had sent her payments totaling between €6,000 and €7,000.

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This is where one of the most mysterious chapters of the case begins.

Riout was an officer with Ukraine’s military intelligence service at the time of the Monaco bombing, while Jekovitch was a former law-enforcement official.

Jekovitch’s lawyer says his client believed he was taking part in a covert mission on behalf of Ukrainian intelligence services. Ukrainian authorities, however, have denied that such a mission existed or that there was any official involvement in the attempted assassination of Yermolaïev.

According to Riout’s account before the court, Jekovitch told him that Berezovska needed to hide because she was at risk of being harmed.

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During the journey, however, Jekovitch allegedly took a handgun out of his bag. The three then travelled to a wooded area near the village of Yuriv, where Berezovska was killed by gunshots to the head.

Riout initially admitted taking part in her killing and said he had shot her on Jekovitch’s orders.

He later changed his account in court, saying that Jekovitch was the one who fired the shots.

Jekovitch’s lawyer, meanwhile, accuses Riout of being the actual killer and organizer of the operation, arguing that he is attempting to shift responsibility onto his client.

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So, who was behind the assassination attempt?

As investigators try to establish exactly what happened, one central question remains unanswered: who was behind the assassination attempt?

It is the same question troubling the businessman himself. Speaking to CNN several days after leaving hospital following several surgical procedures, he said he found it difficult to point the finger at anyone.

“I have never had any enemies. I am not a confrontational person. I have always tried to avoid serious conflicts. I do not understand why,” he said.

Yermolaïev also rejects the possibility that his own family was behind the attempt on his life, insisting that most of his wealth is already registered in the names of other family members.

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As for Berezovska, he believes that she was not the mastermind behind the operation, but merely a paid operative who was exploited. He argues that monitoring him for four months and carrying out the operation on the ground could not have been accomplished by her alone.

He believes that her killing may have been intended to prevent her from speaking and revealing the identities of those behind the operation.

Some of her neighbours in her Ukrainian village share the same sentiment, finding it difficult to believe that the woman they knew could have been involved in an assassination attempt.

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