Ukraine War Day #412: Vladlen Assassination Eye-Witness Speaks Out

Dear Readers:

Today I have for a you a rather amazing story, the reporter is Nikolai Varsegov. The hero of this story is a woman named Elena Tel’nykh. Elena was there and witnessed the terrorist act that killed Russian blogger Vladlen Tatarsky. Elena was injured in the bomb blast. But her story does not start there, the reporter details a rather interesting pre-history involving this same woman.

An image of the beautiful Siberian coniferous taiga.

Back in 2010 the reporters and editorial staff of the KP newspaper first became acquainted with Elena when she contacted them to help in a rescue mission. The setting: Way out there, in the Russian Far-East that borders Mongolia, there are the Sayan Mountains, and a vast taiga, teeming with wildlife. Into that very tough environment a mad ex-priest had led his deluded followers, purportedly to “save” them, but in reality they were all dying a slow death from hunger and cold. Somehow (the reporter doesn’t explain how), Elena Tel’nykh learned about this situation and decided to save the pilgrims. She and reporter Varsegov travelled together to Siberia on a rescue mission. For a month they lived together in a Mongolian yurt, blasted by the cold wind seeping through every crevice. Happily, they found the religious community eventually, and everybody was evacuated back to civilization. Thanks to Lena: She saved their lives and helped to rescue these people.

Hero Lena surviving in a Mongolian yurt

The story was big news in Russia at the time, and shook up a lot of people. It was like Russia’s Jim Jones story, but with a happy ending. The original report can be found at this link.

Fast forward 13 years. Lena and Varsegov meet up again, this time in an equally shocking encounter. By some random blow of fate, Lena happened to be in the very cafe when the bomb went off that killed Vladlen Tatarsky. Varsegov interviews her at her hospital bed.

Varsegov: Lena, how did you come to be there?

Lena: I wanted to meet Vladlen Tatarsky. I work for an organization that helps our soldiers. I am also a photographer now. I arrived at the event early in order to get a seat as close as possible to Vladlen.

Varsegov: Did you know the terrorist, Darya Trepova?

Lena: Of course not. She suddenly appeared directly behind me. At one point she blurted out some question, but I paid no attention. And then she asks again, and announces herself: “I am that very Nastya [Anastasia], don’t you remember my postcards?”

When he heard those words, Vladlen got all excited. He walked right up to me and, speaking over my head, responds to her: “Nastya! Nastenka! Of course I remember you! Your postcards, they were remarkable!”

Later this so-called Nastya-Darya person says that she is a representative of the patriotic student movement, and that her postcards are going to be published. And she says she is also studying to be a sculptor. And look here, she and some friends of hers decided to make sculptures of the SMO heroes, including the war-bloggers. She says, we made a bust of you and decided to bring it to you. But I wasn’t allowed to bring it through the door, they were worried it might contain a bomb. But if you like, I can bring it to you.

The terrorists were counting on the fact that Vladlen was always very attentive to his fans. Especially the young ones. And so Tatarsky accepted the gift. I started taking photos, and I was amazed at the low quality of the artwork. I had the sensation that a very untalented schoolchild had crafted this piece of garbage. I also noticed that Nastya seemed anxious to distance herself from Vladlen as soon as possible. I grab her by the jacket, I ask both her and Tatarsky to pose together for a photo, along with the sculpture. And she begs me: “Oh no, I am too modest! I am too shy!” I tell her that there is nothing to be modest about. And I literally shove her and force her towards Tatarsky and the statuette. But she manages to elude me and slip to the side. So I take one photograph of her sitting in her chair. All this time Vladlen is holding the statuette, twirling it around his head, it’s like he is faking some kind of ecstasy, in order to encourage the girl. While the latter is covering her face in her hands, acting like she is too shy. She was sitting something like 4 meters away from the bomb. And he spent a long time holding and twirling the statuette. And I took photos the whole time.

Lena in her hospital room, gets ready for her operation.

Varsegov: Do you believe that this shy terrorist was trying to shield her face from the bomb?

Lena: I think so. But I believe that the bomb was set off at a distance, by someone other than her. By her co-conspirator.

Varsegov: How did she escape injuries?

Lena: She was sitting in a straight line going from: Bomb-Tatarsky-Trepova. It’s possible her collaborator picked the right moment when Tatarsky’s body was shielding Trepova from the fragments. That must have been the moment when the evil-doer pressed the button.

Varsegov: What happened after that?

Lena: It was just like in a movie, when everything is suddenly slomo. Just a second before the explosion I had stood up and taken a step to the left, I was picking a better angle for my next shot. My camera was in front of my face, my eyes; this is what saved my vision. Suddenly I see a puff of white smoke. Then, through my concussion I hear somebody’s voice: “So, it was a bomb after all!” Instantaneously I am thinking: Do I die, or I don’t die? Just in case, I start reciting the prayer for the dead. And in that very moment I understand perfectly that our shy little Nastya is the terrorist. After that, the shock wave tears my camera out of my hands, and I cover my face with my left hand. All of this happens in a single moment, but due to the concussion, my consciousness perceives everything in slow motion. That same shock wave pins me to the wall, and I lose consciousness. But only for a moment. I check that my hands and feet are still there. Everything is still there, but my arms don’t work any more, due to the bomb fragments embedded in my hands. I try to make my way towards the exit.

Varsegov: Your camera, with those final pictures, it was damaged, no doubt?

Lena: I think so. It was taken as evidence by the investigators.

Varsegov concludes his story with a medical update: “Lena wrote to me this morning from the hospital. She says one of her fingers is working again, so she can email me. Or phone me. Investigators say that she was only 2 meters from the epicenter of the explosion that killed Vladlen Tatarsky. But currently she says she is feeling okay. She has to endure one more operation on her hand, but the worst is already behind her.”

Elena is one of the organizers of the volunteer group called ZOV-HEARTS-HELP THE FRONT. Each sub-group “adopts” a unit to help. Elena’s team helps the 13th Tank Regiment. She can be reached on Telegram @ElenaTelnych.