The detention of Darya Trepova for the murder of Russian pro-war blogger Vladlen Tatarsky has raised many questions about the young woman’s background and politics. Russian media reports say that Ms Trepova, 26, handed Tatarsky a statuette which was believed to contain the explosives that killed him. Later, in a video released by the Russian Interior Ministry, she is seen admitting she brought the statuette to the cafe where the blast took place. However, her statement was most likely obtained under duress and she does not say whether she knew about the explosives.
Russian officials claim that the murder was planned by Ukrainian security services with the help of the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK), headed by jailed Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny, of which they say Ms Trepova is a supporter. But friends and family of hers dispute this, saying that while she was an anti-war activist – she was reportedly detained at a protest at the start of the war – her views were not radical and she was not capable of murder. Her husband Dmitry Rylov suggests she may have been duped.
So what do we know about Darya Trepova? An acquaintance told the BBC that she went to school in the town of Pushkin outside St Petersburg, adding that she “didn’t seem to have any political views then”. Other sources say she later enrolled at St Petersburg state university, though it is not clear at what faculty, and she is not believed to have finished her course. According to another friend, she worked for a long time at a vintage clothes shop in the city, but left her job a month ago to move to Moscow. It is not clear how long she has been married to Mr Rylov.
In an interview for the Agentstvo telegram channel, friends of Ms Trepova said that their marriage was a “joke” and they were really just friends. But some reports say the pair were both arrested at an anti-war rally on 24 February last year, at the start of the invasion of Ukraine. Ms Trepova was detained for 10 days, apparently for ignoring police requests for the crowd to disperse. Mr Rylov is said to be a member of a small fringe opposition group called the Libertarian Party, which was involved in the demonstrations. The party said he had emigrated. It also told the Telegram channel SOTA that Ms Trepova had no connection to the party, and that it condemned Tatarsky’s killing.
Some reports suggest that Mr Rylov is also wanted in connection with the killing. He told SVTV News that she could not have willingly committed murder. “I believe that my wife was duped,” he said. “Yes, it’s true that neither of us support the war in Ukraine, but we believe that such acts are impermissible. I’m 100% sure that she would never have agreed to anything like this if she had known about it.” Reports say Russian investigators have not ruled out the possibility that Ms Trepova did not know what was in the statuette.
Darya Trepova’s background and politics remain largely unknown. She went to school in Pushkin outside St Petersburg and enrolled at St Petersburg state university, though it is not clear at what faculty. She worked at a vintage clothes shop in the city before moving to Moscow a month ago. It is unclear how long she has been married to Mr Rylov, though they were both arrested at an anti-war rally on 24 February last year.
Mr Rylov is said to be a member of a small fringe opposition group called the Libertarian Party, which was involved in the demonstrations. The party said he had emigrated and denied any connection between Ms Trepova and them. Reports also suggest that Mr Rylov is wanted in connection with Tatarsky’s killing, though he insists his wife could not have willingly committed murder and believes she was duped.
Russian media said that Ms Trepova had been in correspondence with Tatarsky and had attended previous events he was involved in. However, Russian investigators have not ruled out the possibility that she did not know what was in the statuette and her statement was most likely obtained under duress.