World News
Russian authorities accuse 32-year-old woman of assassinating naval commander in Crimea
Investigators claim Margarita Reutt carried out the Sevastopol bombing under Ukrainian intelligence orders, while Kyiv remains silent.
The short version
- Robert Shageev, deputy commander of a Russian Black Sea fleet submarine brigade, was killed in Sevastopol by a remote-controlled explosive on August 13.
- Russian security services arrested Margarita Reutt, a 32-year-old Sochi resident, alleging she confessed to detonating the device for Ukrainian intelligence in exchange for money and travel documents.
- Kyiv has not issued any comment on the attack, and the claims and purported confession released by Russian agencies have not been independently verified.
Key facts
- Robert Shageev was killed on August 13 in occupied Sevastopol after a bomb containing roughly 500 grams of TNT detonated inside a rubbish bin.[The Guardian]
- Russian police arrested 32-year-old Margarita Reutt shortly after the blast and stated they recovered a remote control used to detonate the explosive.[The Guardian]
- The Russian FSB stated that Reutt confessed to operating on behalf of Ukrainian intelligence in exchange for cryptocurrency and exit documentation.[The Guardian]
- Shageev formerly commanded Ukraine's sole submarine before defecting to Russia during the 2014 annexation of Crimea.[The Guardian]
- Reutt had previously been fined under Russian laws penalizing the discrediting of the armed forces after vocally opposing the war in Ukraine.[The Guardian]
What remains uncertain
- The veracity of Reutt's reported confession and her alleged ties to Ukrainian intelligence have not been independently verified.[The Guardian]
- The Ukrainian government has not commented on the bombing or acknowledged involvement in the operation.[The Guardian]
Sources
- The ‘ordinary’ woman accused of assassinating a Russian commander in CrimeaThe Guardian - World