Suspect named in Monaco bombing targeting Russia-linked Ukrainian tycoon

Interpol has named the main suspect in the Monaco bombing that reportedly targeted a Ukrainian tycoon with links to Russia.

The organisation identified Anastasiia Berezovska, a 39-year-old woman from Ukraine, as the suspect in a Red Notice posted on its website seeking her arrest.

Monaco authorities have not identified any of the three people wounded in Monday’s explosion at an apartment building entrance but said they are a family and that they appear to have been specifically targeted.

Media reports identified Ukrainian construction tycoon Vadym Yermolaiev as being among the wounded.

He has said he renounced his Ukrainian citizenship nearly a decade ago, and he was targeted by Ukrainian sanctions in 2023 for ties to Russia.

A woman and a child were also hurt. One of the victims is still in a life-threatening condition, prosecutors said on Friday, also mentioning two other “collateral victims” who were slightly injured in the attack.

A screenshot of the Interpol webpage showing a Red Notice for the suspect in the Monaco bombing PA Media

The Interpol notice says the suspect has a tattoo, possibly of a snake, on her right arm from the shoulder to the elbow. It says she was born in Ukraine, has dark hair, and speaks German.

Her arrest is sought by authorities in Monaco for attempted murder, placing an explosive device in a public place with criminal intent, and criminal conspiracy.

Morgan Raymond, the deputy prosecutor in Monaco, said the bomb was detonated from a distance, using a remote control. The remains of the bomb are being analysed in France, he said.

He added that the suspect was initially identified as a heavily built person appearing to be male, wearing a dark long-sleeved top, light-coloured shorts and a black bucket hat. A broader review of CCTV footage from previous days and evidence from a witness redirected the investigation towards a woman disguised as a man.

A police officer near the blast scene in Monaco PA Media

Eric Arella, Monaco’s director of public security, held up copies of the Interpol wanted notice at the news conference with the prosecutor.

Two photos included in the Interpol wanted notice for Berezovska show a woman wearing a white T-shirt with dark stripes, one of them in a street where she is holding what appears to be some sort of electronic device, trailing a cable, in her left hand.

The judicial investigation also focused on whether the suspect had accomplices or acted on behalf of someone else.

“The relative sophistication of the explosive device and the modus operandi suggest that the person who planted the device did not act alone,” Mr Raymond said.

Two male individuals were taken into police custody as part of the investigation, but both were subsequently released.

Investigators also identified a rented vehicle fitted with German licence plates used by the suspect in Monaco.

The suspect’s escape route was traced, including the journey from France into Italy, and then across several European countries up to her country of residence. Mr Raymond said that her last known address is in Germany, “a country with which judicial co-operation is particularly active”.

German police, including special forces, have searched the rented apartment near Frankfurt of a 39-year-old Ukrainian woman in connection with the investigation, police and prosecutors said in a statement on Friday.

Investigators examine the scene where an explosive device injured three people in Monaco PA Media

A vehicle used by the woman also was searched and secured, they added, and evidence will be handed over to authorities in Monaco. They said that the woman is on the run and they cannot give more details at present.

The attack shocked the country on the Mediterranean coast, one of the world’s smallest sovereign states known for its high concentration of wealthy residents. Monaco’s Prince Albert II described it as “an odious act” and said all public services were mobilised to ensure security.

Ukraine is believed to have carried out attacks and targeted killings of Russian figures in the course of the war, although those attacks have largely been confined to Ukrainian or Russian territory.

In December 2024, Ukraine’s security service claimed responsibility for killing the head of nuclear, biological and chemical military protection forces for the Russian military.

Western intelligence officials have recently said that Russia has ramped up a campaign of targeted killings since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.