Vadym Yermolaiev, who was targeted in an attempted killing in Monaco, had planned to speak in the European Parliament about corruption in Ukraine, Claude Moniquet, a former French Defense Ministry official and co-founder of the European Strategic Intelligence and Security Center, told Nice-Matin.
“Perhaps this was perceived as a provocation,” the former intelligence officer said.
At the same time, Moniquet is also considering other versions of the attempted killing. In particular, he does not rule out that it may have been a “settling of scores ordered by a competitor.”
Nice-Matin also writes that within the Ukrainian community on the French Riviera, there is growing support for the theory that the attempted killing was linked to fraudulent call centers associated with the businessman’s son, Artur Yermolaiev.
Artur Yermolaiev was detained in Cyprus last year at Interpol’s request. The outlet notes that, in this context, parallels are being drawn with the abduction and killing in Bali of Ihor Komarov, who was involved in fraudulent call centers in Dnipro.