The suspected attempt to kill Ukrainian oligarch Vadim Ermolaev in Monaco was a deliberate and carefully prepared operation carried out by someone familiar with his routine, security sources have said.
Ermolaev, 58, was critically injured and taken to hospital after a backpack packed with nuts and bolts detonated at the entrance of his luxury apartment building in the principality at about 9pm on Monday.
Monegasque police, supported by French authorities, have launched a major search for the suspect, who was captured on CCTV running from the area and has not yet been found.
Intelligence figures have since suggested the unidentified attacker likely had detailed knowledge of the businessman’s movements and was intent on striking him specifically.
Colonel Philip Ingram, a former Army intelligence officer, told this newspaper: “It’s quite clear that this was a very well-planned assassination attempt.
“Whoever’s planned this didn’t care who they got, they just wanted to make sure they got him.
“The way the bomb was planted suggests there has almost certainly been some form of reconnaissance beforehand to work out a pattern of life as to when people would come in and out of the house.”
Local sources said the building contains six apartments which, unusually, were all empty when the blast occurred, as the victims were said to be “returning home peacefully”.
Vadim Ermolaev – a Ukrainian oligarch – suffered multiple shrapnel wounds after a backpack full of nuts and bolts exploded in the foyer of his apartment block in Monaco
Windows to the oligarch’s lavish apartment showed the glass panes blasted out after a backpack full of nuts and bolts exploded at the entrance
Images of the man who targeted Iermolaiev at the iconic Sun Palace flats were captured on CCTV, and he is still at large
It is thought the apartment was the kept residence of Anna Nasobina, 46, a Ukrainian-born but London-based businesswoman who is believed to be his long-time mistress.
The family home Mr Ermolaev shares with his wife, Anna, 56, with whom he has four children, is a high-security villa in nearby Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat.
Initial reports had suggested the female victim of the explosion was his wife – but this newspaper has since revealed he was in fact with his lover at the time of the attack.
She had both her legs blown off in the explosion and is now fighting for her life in an intensive care unit in hospital.
The pair were also with their 13-year-old son, who was also injured in the attack in the centre of Monaco and is now in hospital alongside his parents.
Investigators are trying to ascertain who was responsible for the blast, which is being treated as an attempted murder rather than an act of terrorism by Monaco prosecutors.
Ukrainian police have previously said the oligarch may have been blown up over his alleged links to a €100million call centre fraud scheme.
Police sources claimed the violent attack is directly linked to a network of fraudulent call centres in Dnipro, Ukraine, where Mr Ermolaev and his lover, Ms Nasobina, are both from.
Ukrainian oligarch Vadim Ermolaev walking alongside his Bentley in Monaco
Anna Nasobina, 46, and her son, 13, were reportedly with the oligarch and injured during the attack
The scheme has allegedly been used to carry out large-scale financial scams across Europe and the Ermolaev family is claimed to have played a significant role in the network.
In fact, Mr Ermolaev’s name is reportedly at the heart of a sprawling pan-European investigation into the clandestine call centres.
It has fuelled speculation the attack may have been the work of the criminal underworld.
Ukrainian outlet Ukrainska Pravda reported the attempted assassination stemmed from a failed agreement to divide territory and unpaid debts allegedly owed to organised crime bosses in Dnipro.
Mr Ermolaev made his fortune in commerce after the collapse of the Soviet Union and is known primarily as a wine tycoon.
Forbes listed him as the 45th wealthiest Ukrainian in 2021, a year before Russia’s full-scale invasion, with a fortune estimated at $225million (£170million).
But like many oligarchs who became rich in this period, he has faced accusations of criminality, including money laundering, which he denies.
Responding to reports linking him to ‘boiler room’ fraud, Theo Koshlyakov, the businessman’s legal assistant in Monaco, said: ‘To date, no legal proceedings have been initiated against Mr Ermolaev in any jurisdiction’.
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Mr Ermolaev has been living in Monaco since 2021, according to reports.
In 2019, he renounced his Ukrainian citizenship and obtained a Cypriot passport.
In December 2023, he was subjected to personal sanctions by Kyiv for allegedly selling wine in Russian-occupied Crimea.
His assets were frozen and he was prohibited from doing business after Ukraine accused him of having paid millions of dollars in taxes to the Russian treasury.
He produces a ‘geographically protected Crimean wine for the Russians’, which is still sold in Europe and the US, a source has claimed.
Mr Ermolaev has denied holding any assets in Crimea or co-operating with Russia in any capacity.
Local sources claimed the apartment block contains six flats which were, curiously, all empty at the time of the attack, which took place as the victims were ‘returning home peacefully’
Investigators are trying to ascertain who was responsible for the blast, which is being treated as an attempted murder rather than an act of terrorism by Monaco prosecutors
Ukrainian police have previously said the oligarch may have been blown up over his alleged links to a €100million call centre fraud scheme
The brazen attack on a notable public figure is likely to spark accusations of involvement by Moscow or Kyiv, whose deadly war of shadow assassinations has been steadily escalating since 2022.
There was a claim in local French news outlet Nice-Matin that Mr Ermolaev had planned to deliver a speech to the European Parliament alleging corruption in Ukraine.
An aide to France’s Interior Minister, Laurent Nuñez, said yesterday police were working ‘to find the perpetrator, who has fled’.
Initial reports had suggested the female victim of the explosion had been Mr Ermolaev’s wife, Anna Ermolaev, 56, the mother of his other four children.
But this newspaper has since revealed he was in fact with his lover, Ms Nasobina, at the time of the attack.
Mrs Ermolaev told Ukrainian state media outlet Suspline: ‘We are currently in a state of severe stress and are actively cooperating with the investigation and law enforcement agencies.’
Anatoly Shariy, a Ukrainian political blogger, wrote: ‘During the explosion with Ermolaev, it was not his wife.
‘It was this woman who lost her legs and is on the brink of life and death.’
He said: ‘Ermolaev was with his mistress, Anna Nasobina. She has been with him for a long time. They have a common child of 13 years.’
Members of a bomb disposal team operate the day after an alleged attack involving an explosive device in the lobby of a residential building, in Monaco on June 30
The Suspline report stated: ‘Businessman Vadim Ermolaev’s official wife, near whose [residential] building in Monaco an explosion occurred on the evening of 29 June, was not injured and was physically in another place.
‘From its own sources in law enforcement, Suspline learned that the other woman is in serious condition.’
Ms Nasobina had to have her legs amputated following the attack, according to Ukrainian media, while her son was thrown nearly 50ft by the force of explosion.
She has previously been described as the tycoon’s ‘common law wife’.
Originally from Dnipro, Ukraine, she is the daughter of the former first deputy state prosecutor of Dnipropetrovsk region.
Nasobina studied law at Dnipropetrovsk National University, followed by an International Institute of Management, before relocating to London.
She describes herself as ‘London-based’ and has been the director of UK company Wycombe Square Investments LLP since 2023.
She is a co-founder of Club Eclectique, a private members’ and literary-arts society registered in Oxford Street with a linked Monaco office. It was established in 2016.
The club’s events feature Russian entertainers with pro-Kremlin ties, and attendees include members of the Moscow diaspora in London.
One 2017 event she hosted, in honour of ballet legend Rudolf Nureyev, saw guests including Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Yasmin Mills, designer Julien Macdonald, party queen Jo Wood, singer Camilla Kerslake and actress Camilla Rutherford attend.
Reports today in France suggest investigators are examining the possible involvement of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) in the suspected assassination bid.
The blast may have been a ‘warning’ rather than a deliberate attempt at murder.
