Two independent organizations in Russia have denied any association with the woman alleged to have carried out the bombing in St. Petersburg that killed military journalist and blogger Vladlen Tatarsky on Sunday.
Daria Trepova, the alleged assailant, “has never been a member of our party,” said the Libertarian Party, a small political party in Russia, in a statement Monday. “According to our records, she has never been a supporter of the Libertarian Party either.”
Her husband, Dmitry Rylov, who is a party member, “has been abroad for a long time and, according to him, has nothing to do with Daria’s alleged actions and was not aware of them,” the organization added, condemning “aggressive violence against civilians.”
Separately, Alexey Navalny’s longtime associate rejected accusations that the jailed opposition leader’s Anti-Corruption Foundation was involved with the explosion.
Russia’s state media RIA Novosti carried a statement Monday from the National Anti Terrorism Committee, saying that the explosion involved agents of the Ukrainian special services and associates of Navalny-founded Anti-Corruption Foundation “of which the detained Daria Trepova is an active supporter.”
“This is a rather idiotic situation. To refute the fact that we did it is idiocy. Obviously, we are not involved in this,” Ivan Zhdanov said, adding that the accusation was an attempt to prolong Navalny’s jail term.
Zhdanov said that it seemed Russia needed “not only an external absolute enemy in the form of Ukraine, but also an internal one in the form of Navalny’s team.”
Ukraine has said little about the attack, beyond blaming in-fighting in Russia.
