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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
World
Rachel Hagan

St Petersburg 'bomber' smiles on CCTV before she's caught as husband says she was framed

A woman accused of assassinating a Putin propagandist has been caught on CCTV smiling while entering an apartment block as her husband says she has been framed by Russia.

Daria Trepova, 26, has been arrested and held over the death of the 40-year-old pro-war blogger Vladlen Tatarsky, who was killed in a blast at a St Petersburg cafe on Sunday.

Tatarsky, whose real name was Maxim Fomin, was one of the best-known Russian military bloggers, with more than 560,000 followers on social media.

More than 30 people were wounded in the blast, according to Russia’s health ministry.

Trepova is accused of carrying a small hollowed-out statue containing a bomb into a café where the Kremlin propagandist was holding a meeting.

The clip shows Daria Trepova entering the block of flats hours after bombing (Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation)

Trepova is, according to Russian counter-terror officials, an "active supporter" of the Navalny Anti-Corruption Foundation - Putin's opposition.

On Monday she was videoed by the Federal Security Service (FSB) giving a partial confession.

In the footage, an FSB officer asks her if she understands why she had been arrested.

She says: “I would say, for being at the spot of the killing of Vladlen Tatarsky.”

The officer then asks her what she did. “I brought the figurine that exploded there,” she replies.

However, her husband, Dmitry Rylov, said she had been framed.

The suspect enters the block of flats hours after the bombing (Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation)

“I am completely sure that she would never have been able to do something like this on her own," Mr Rylov told journalists in Uzbekistan, where he is living in exile.

Rylov is a member of the fringe opposition group, Libertarian Party of Russia and also said: "Together with Daria, we really do not support the war in Ukraine, but we believe that such actions are unacceptable.

"I am 100% sure that she would never have agreed to this if she had known."

Trepova is accused of carrying a small hollowed-out statue containing a bomb (Social media/e2w)
She has been arrested and held over the death of the 40-year-old pro-war blogger (Social media/e2w)

The newly released footage shows her entering an apartment building in St Petersburg while carrying a bag over her shoulder and pulling a large suitcase.

Inside the lift, she and an unknown man are seen talking and smiling at one another before the footage then cuts to scenes of her being arrested and escorted.

Trepova apparently told the Russian investigators she would tell them who gave her the explosive-laded statuette at a "later date."

A police officer stands guard at the scene of the explosion (ANATOLY MALTSEV/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)

Russia's top counterterrorism agency had unfounded claims that she carried out the attack with the help of Ukrainian special services and activists who are linked to jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.

Russian media reported that Ms Trepova's mother and sister were also interrogated by the security forces and that the Kremlin had asked the Uzbek authorities to arrest her husband.

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