Monaco bombing target says he did not expect threat to his life

Ukrainian-born millionaire Vadym Yermolaiev, who was wounded in a bombing attack in Monaco last month, said he did not know who might want him dead and had not believed his life was in danger before the attack.

Yermolaiev, 58, remains in hospital. In his first interview since the attack, published by Monaco Matin, he said he was doing better and planned to continue living in Monaco.

The June 29 blast was detonated remotely in the lobby of the family's apartment building. It wounded Yermolaiev, who holds Cypriot nationality, his partner and his 13-year-old son. All three were hospitalised, and the couple suffered particularly severe injuries.

Yermolaiev said that before the attack he had no reason to think his life could be in danger, especially in Monaco. The microstate near Nice in southern France is described in the source as secure and as a playground of the super-rich.

Ukrainian investigators have said the suspect in the bombing, 39-year-old Anastasiia Berezovska, was shot dead near Kyiv shortly after returning to Ukraine by a Ukrainian military intelligence officer and an accomplice, a former police officer. The two men were arrested. Investigators also suspect them of masterminding the Monaco attack and recruiting Berezovska to carry it out.

Asked about possible involvement of the Ukrainian state, Yermolaiev said he preferred not to answer. He said any public hypothesis at this stage could complicate investigators' work. He said he hoped the investigation would establish the circumstances of the attack and whether the danger had passed.

Yermolaiev also said he saw no element linking the attack against him to a fraudulent call-centre case involving one of his sons. His 35-year-old son, Artur Yermolaiev, was convicted this year of fraud in Estonia, where he pleaded guilty to running a fake investment phone scam out of Ukraine that obtained about 100 million euros, or $115 million, through fraud.

An earlier supplied report said Ukraine's prosecutor general had published video said to show the June 29 parcel bomb attack. That footage showed a person leaving a bag at the entrance to a luxury apartment complex.