A 24-year-old woman planted a bomb that killed a Russian officer near St. Petersburg. By the time the FSB tracked her to Turkey, she had already left for Moldova.
A 24-year-old Russian woman is a suspect in the bombing of a car belonging to a lieutenant colonel with a St. Petersburg unit of Russia’s Air Force and Air Defense, the local news outlet Fontanka said, without disclosing its source. The suspect has not been named.
According to Fontanka, “certain people” first approached the woman believed to have carried out the bombing several months before the attack. Representatives of Ukraine’s armed forces contacted her later and offered her a deal: plant the bomb, then leave Russia for Ukraine.
The suspect does not live in St. Petersburg. She arrived from another city the day before the attack and planted the bomb on the evening of August 26, then flew to Turkey early the next morning. By the time Russia’s Federal Security Service had identified her and contacted Turkish authorities, she had already flown on to Chisinau.
The officer’s car exploded on Kolpino Highway on the morning of August 27 with the lieutenant colonel and his wife inside. He was killed, and his wife was hospitalized. Russia’s Investigative Committee opened a criminal case but did not specify the charge.
His identity has not been officially disclosed. According to Fontanka, he served in Russia’s Aerospace Forces, and the outlet 78.ru said he was a military pilot. The Ukrainian Telegram channel Supernova+ said Sergei Sechkov was killed in the explosion, and Sechkov’s father confirmed to the independent investigative outlet Agentstvo that his son had died in the blast. According to the Ukrainian project Myrotvorets, Sechkov had previously served as a major in the 332nd Separate Guards Helicopter Red Banner Regiment.
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