A suspect has been identified as part of the investigation into the attempted assassination with an explosive device against a businessman of Ukrainian origin on Monday evening in Monaco, the principality’s public prosecutor’s office announced on Thursday July 2. “An arrest warrant has been issued against the suspect who will be the subject of an Interpol red notice from this evening,” added the prosecution.
According to Le Figaro and BFMTV, the identified suspect, whose head investigators saw with a black bob on video surveillance images, is believed to be a woman who was able to pass for a man.
The Attorney General of Monaco, Stéphane Thibault, does not specify this in his press release but announces a press point on Friday at 11:30 a.m. He praised “the quality of the work” of the Monegasque police forces and “effective international criminal cooperation, both police and judicial”, which made it possible “to identify in a particularly short time the person suspected of being the author of the acts”.
A judicial investigation for attempted assassination and several other charges was opened and entrusted to three investigating judges.
Ukrainian oligarch targeted
Monday evening, a person left a package in the entrance hall of a small building a stone’s throw from France. Shortly after, an explosive device went off in this hall as three residents, a couple and a 13-year-old boy, were returning, who were injured.
The Monegasque authorities still refuse to confirm the identity of the victims, but according to corroborating sources the attack targeted Vadim Ermolaev, 58, a wealthy businessman originally from Ukraine and now of Cypriot nationality, as well as his partner and his son.
The latter was admitted in a relative emergency to the Lenval children’s hospital in Nice, while the two adults, whose vital prognosis was in jeopardy, were taken to the Nice University Hospital. On Wednesday, the man was no longer between life and death but the woman’s condition was not stabilized.
Residing in Monaco since at least 2021, Vadim Ermolaev has been the subject of sanctions in Ukraine since December 2023 for his commercial activities in Crimea, annexed by Russia. This assassination attempt is a thunderclap for Monaco, an ultra-secure Mediterranean micro-state of 2 km2 and barely 40,000 inhabitants, an international and often very wealthy population.
