Daria Trepova, charged with terrorism after ‘war correspondent’ Vladlen Tatarsky’s murder, writes from jail

Daria Trepova, arrested after allegedly murdering the self-styled “war correspondent” Vladlen Tatarsky by handing him an explosive-filled statuette, has replied to a letter from the independent news outlet Bumaga, detailing the circumstances of the murder and how she came to play a role in it.

In her letter from jail, Trepova writes that when Russia started what she calls a “special military operation” in Ukraine, she began looking for volunteer opportunities in the combat zone. She wrote to a war blogger she had befriended on social media, telling him that she wanted to work with civilian victims, providing humanitarian and medical aid.

Although Trepova doesn’t name the blogger she says she had written to, her case materials contain references to Roman Popkov, a Kyiv-based journalist who previously served as a branch coordinator of Eduard Limonov’s National Bolshevik party and later worked in Belarus and Ukraine. Popkov figures on Russia’s federal register of terrorists and extremists.

According to Trepova, the blogger promised to think about her situation. Six months later, he wrote again, telling her that he could help arrange her move. “At the same time, he suggested that I try my hand at journalism and help him out a bit. That’s how I started going to Vladlen Tatarsky’s lectures,” the young woman writes.

When attending Tatarsky’s public events, Trepova was told to introduce herself as “Anastasia.” She reportedly learned that “Anastasia” was a real person, and that a fake Telegram channel was being run under her name, when already in pretrial detention.

She is now getting ready for her trial, Trepova says. “There is a lot of worrying, depression, and crying,” she admits. “I hope that those who broke my life and the lives of others for the sake of sketchy short-term gains will answer for it some day,” she adds.

Vladlen Tatarsky was killed by a sudden blast while hosting a public reading in St. Petersburg on April 2, 2023. Forty event guests were injured by the explosion.

Trepova’s charges include terrorism and illicit explosives trafficking. She is facing up to 30 years in prison. The first hearing has yet to be announced.