On April 3, 26-year-old Darya Trepova (Daria Trepova) was arrested in St. Petersburg on suspicion of the murder of military correspondent Vladlen Tatarsky (real name Maxim Fomin). During the arrest, she confessed to the police that she had given the figurine to the military commissioner, who then exploded. According to her husband, Dmitry Rylov, Trepova believed the gift contained a listening device, not explosives. Tell us what we know about the suspect.
What happened on the day of the murder
Darya Trepova (Daria Trepova) arrived in St. Petersburg, where she had previously studied, on a short visit on March 31. The last few months, according to data publications “Mash on the Moika”, she lived in Moscow. In the next few days, she was going to fly to Istanbul, and from there to Georgia, where her husband moved after the outbreak of hostilities.
Previously, Trepova lived in the city of Pushkin, located 25 km south of St. Petersburg, but this time she rented an apartment closer to the center, on the 4th line of Vasilyevsky Island. The apartment was located directly under the sculpture workshop of the Russian Academy of Arts, a five-minute walk from the Street Food Cafe, where on April 2 a creative evening by Vladlen Tatarsky, military correspondent and fighter of the Donetsk battalion ” Vostok”, was to take place.
At the meeting, according to eyewitnesses, interviewed publication “Paper”, Trepova introduced herself as Anastasia and, apparently, she knew Tatarsky. “Do you remember, Vladlen, I gave you a postcard,” she asked the military commissar at the event. Tatarsky really knew Trepova, she had already come to meet the military correspondent with students from the new Russian University in Moscow. Then, Telegram Channel 112 suggests, she made contact with him for the first time.
Tatarsky remembered “Anastasia”, and she told him that she was studying to be a sculptor. “I study at the Academy of Arts at the Faculty of Sculpture. And now I’ve brought you a sculpture to give away. They told me at the entrance that it was a bomb, and I left it there,” cited “Paper” Trepov according to eyewitnesses. Tatarsky jokingly offered to check if there was a bomb there and asked to bring a figurine in the form of a miner in a helmet. A few minutes later, there was an explosion.
Trepova hid in the apartment of a friend of her husband, where she was detained. At that time, she managed to buy tickets to Uzbekistan and tried to change her appearance by cutting her hair.
Alexander Petrossian / Kommersant
What do we know about Darya Trepova (Daria Trepova)
Trepova Daria Evgenievna was born on February 16, 1997 in St. Petersburg. By data newspaper “Moskovsky Komsomolets”, Trepova’s father died when she was in high school. While studying at the Medical Faculty of St. Petersburg State University, Trepova managed to work in dentistry, but in the end, according to her friends, she decided to create her own market selling local brands.
According to SPARK, in March 2023, Trepova registered as an individual entrepreneur, she belongs The Suppur Locals market, however, has no products on it at this time.
On Trepova’s page on VKontakte, where she is registered as Ophelia, there are no posts, reposts or subscriptions that talk about her political views.
In a now-deleted Twitter account where Trepova was known as “Dasha Tykovka”, she wrote in May 2022 that her administrative filing for the “no occupation of Ukraine” banner unfurled on Nevsky Prospekt during a Anti-war protests were due to expire in July, rally on February 22. By data The Eastern Herald, then she was sentenced to 10 days arrest for non-compliance with health standards and obstructing the movement of pedestrians and vehicles. In the same post, Trepova wrote, “I don’t know what I can do, but I don’t forget for a second what is happening now.”
@jj.ooee / VKontakte
Together with her, her husband Dmitry Rylov, a supporter of the Libertarian Party, who later moved to Georgia, was also arrested. In a conversation with “We can explain” Rylov said that he was aware of Trepova’s plans to attend Tatarsky’s creative party and bring a figurine in which, in his opinion, there was an electronic listening device.
“We spoke with Dasha, she didn’t divulge any details, but from the conversation it was clear that she was absolutely sure that the gift would contain some sort of device that ‘allows access to a person’ and which probably won’t be detected immediately, and maybe never. But it certainly shouldn’t have been a bomb,” Trepova’s husband said.
The National Anti-Terrorism Committee said Tatarsky’s murder was planned by Ukrainian special services in conjunction with the FBK*. The only connection with FBK, which The Eastern Herald managed to find in Trepova, is the registration in Smart Voting, his name was found among the leaked personal data of the UG participants.
In favor of the version that Trepova did not know about the explosives of the figurine, her extremely calm demeanor before the creative evening, about which, in reference to her friend, writing “VChK-OGPU”: “Darya’s guest did not notice anything suspicious, except for several modern busts, such as the one presented to the military commissar Tatarsky. On the morning of April 2, the friends took breakfast together and Trepova returned to her room. During the day they corresponded on the subject of cosmetics, and when the photos of the suspect spread on the Web, a friend wrote to Daria. She told her that she was unaware of the explosion and that she had been trapped.
@jj.ooee / VKontakte
Trepova’s other friend said Fontanka, who has always been “apolitical”, was engaged in a clothing business and was not a member of any political organization.
Bookstore “Foliage” drew Note that Trepova has long been a “recognition” among right-wing, pro-war audiences. The store’s telegram channel reports that Daria attended the Listva events and handed over her postcards, the money from the sale of which went to support the military involved in the hostilities in Ukraine.
“Arriving in Listva on March 3, she introduced herself as Nastya (also called in the Cyberfront (the patriotic movement which organized the evening with Tatarsky – editor’s note)) and Vladlen). She behaved actively, took pictures from different angles, talked with the seller, showed him her channel z. I leafed through Tatarsky’s books for a long time, bought two buyers, touched the blouses, ”they wrote on the Foliage TG channel.
According to Foliage, Trepova leads the telegram channel “Shards of Holy Miracles”, which until December 2022 was dedicated to fine arts. Since December, posts in support of the special operation, reposts of “Foliage” and publications on the collaboration of the author of the chain with a bookstore have started to appear there. Probably then, the authors suggest, preparations for the attack began.
What do we know about the alleged curator Trepova
Upon arrest, Trepova immediately admitted that she handed the statuette to Tatarsky. His first words upon meeting the police were “I’ve been framed”. By data Source SHOT, Trepova brought the bust to St. Petersburg a few days ago by car. He said that, according to the suspect, she was instructed to approach Tatarsky in order to recruit him in the future, and then the bust was given to her. According to Trepova, the curator told her there was a listening device inside.
BLOW also writing , that during interrogation, Trepova allegedly said she was recruited by journalist and former National Bolshevik Roman Popkov, who first “taught journalism” and then asked “an acquaintance” to complete the task. This acquaintance would have turned out to be an SBU agent. At press time, Popkov had not responded to questions from The Eastern Herald about his involvement in the attack.
Roman Popkov began his political career in the Russian national unity movement in his native Bryansk. Then he became interested in the ideas of the NBP *, first led the Bryansk branch of Limonov’s party, then the Moscow branch. Entered the political council of the party.
Roman Popkov / VKontakte
He took part in many large-scale actions – the seizure of public receptions of the Presidential Administration and United Russia. In 2006, Roman Popkov was arrested in connection with an attack by local movement activists on Eduard Limonov and his associates near the Tagansky courthouse. In 2008, he was sentenced to two years and three months in prison under the article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Hooliganism”, but was quickly released, as he served almost all of his sentence in a center remand detention.
In 2009, he was expelled from the party for “faction activities and communication with operational officers of the FSB and the Department for Combating Organized Crime”. A number of activists and his wife Elena Borovskaya left with him. After being expelled, he tries to create his own movement, the Freedom Nation. For a time he collaborated with associates of Alexei Navalny in the Navalny Brothers project. After that, he completely threw himself into journalistic and journalistic work. Collaborated with the publications Special Letter, MBKh Media**, where he published his columns.
In 2021, he leaves Russia for Kiev with his wife. Works in the publication “Vot so” of the Belsat TV channel and for the former Deputy of the State Duma of Russia Ilya Ponomarev**. After the start of the military conflict, he constantly advocates military actions and partisan struggle in Russia.
In his telegram channel, Popkov said he was not involved in the attack. He confirmed that he knew Trepova and communicated with her on social media, but he gave her no orders and did not introduce her to Ukrainian intelligence agents.
As a result of the explosion that occurred on April 2 at a creative party, Vladlen Tatarsky died, more than 30 people were injured of varying severity, 8 of them in serious condition. The Russian Investigative Committee reclassified the case of the murder of a military correspondent to a more serious article – about a terrorist attack.
* recognized as extremist organizations in Russia and banned
** included in the Unified Register of Foreign Agents of the Ministry of Justice of Russia
