Russian Woman Darya Trepova Sentenced to 27 Years Behind Bars for Deadly Cafe Bombing

Darya Trepova, a 26-year-old Russian woman, has been sentenced to 27 years in prison for the killing of pro-war blogger Vladlen Tatarsky. Tatarsky was killed in April when a bomb hidden in a statuette, given to him by Trepova, detonated as he was about to give a talk in St. Petersburg. The explosion injured dozens of people. Trepova has denied the charges and claimed that she believed the statuette contained a listening device. She stated that she acted on the orders of an unidentified contact from Ukraine and was set up. This sentence is one of the harshest ever imposed on a woman in Russia. Russian investigators have accused Ukraine of being behind the attack, but Ukrainian officials have neither confirmed nor denied this allegation. Trepova testified in court that she received instructions from a man known as Gestalt, whose identity remains unknown. She established contact with Gestalt through Ukraine-based journalist Roman Popkov. Trepova, who opposes Russia's war in Ukraine and intended to work as a journalist there, stated that she gained Tatarsky's trust under Gestalt's guidance. In March, Gestalt sent her the statuette, assuring her that it contained a wiretap and tracker. Trepova expressed concerns about the possibility of it being a bomb. Tatarsky, whose real name was Maxim Fomin, was a well-known blogger with over half a million followers. He had a criminal history and had joined Russian-backed separatists after being released from jail where he served time for armed robbery. He was part of a community of pro-Kremlin military bloggers who gained prominence during Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Tatarsky had been critical of the Russian authorities, including President Vladimir Putin, for their perceived failures on the battlefield. After his death, Putin posthumously awarded him the Order of Courage. Trepova's sentencing comes shortly after the former commander of Russian-backed rebels in eastern Ukraine, Igor Girkin, was sentenced to four years in prison for "calls to carry out extremist activities."