Margarita Reutt, a 32-year-old Russian woman from Sochi, was detained after a bomb killed Robert Shageev, the deputy commander of a Russian Black Sea fleet submarine brigade, in Sevastopol on 13 August.
The device, hidden in a rubbish bin and estimated to contain the equivalent of about 500g of TNT, exploded as Shageev walked through a residential square in naval uniform. Russian investigators said they found a remote control during a search and that Reutt confessed, but those claims have not been independently verified.
What Russian investigators allege
Russian security agencies accused Reutt of carrying out the attack on orders from a handler linked to Ukrainian intelligence. They said she was promised a large cryptocurrency payment and documents to help her leave Russia, and the FSB said she showed no remorse.
Ukraine has not commented on the bombing or on Reutt’s alleged role. The allegations remain contested because Russian agencies have previously publicised purported confessions before cases reached court. Reutt’s trial is also likely to be held behind closed doors, limiting her opportunity to give a public account.
Related coverage: Robert Shageyev killed in Sevastopol bomb attack, Russian officials say.
The path from Sochi to Crimea
Reutt was born Margarita Yakovleva and grew up in Yaroslavl. Friends described her as sociable and adventurous. In Novosibirsk, where she studied management, she joined a parachuting club, competed in amateur go-karting and played water polo. She later moved to Sochi, briefly ran a travel agency and joined the alternative-medicine company Vitauct in the early 2020s.
Friends said her public life appeared to change gradually. After volunteering to clean fuel pollution from beaches near Anapa in the aftermath of a December 2024 oil spill, she became increasingly outspoken against Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. In July 2025, she was fined under Russia’s law against “discrediting” the armed forces. The following February, she posted a genetic-test result showing she was 98% Russian alongside a statement saying she was ashamed to be Russian.
What remains unknown
People who knew Reutt said she became more withdrawn in late spring, bought a second phone and declined an autumn trip with friends. By summer, she was spending more time in Crimea, telling one acquaintance she was scouting locations for video shoots. The source material does not establish what she did there, when she may have met a Ukrainian intelligence contact or whether the alleged recruitment occurred.
More context: Ukraine’s Elite Drone Force Targets Russian Infrastructure in Crimea and Beyond.
The case fits a broader pattern described by Russian authorities and linked by Ukrainian intelligence agencies to attacks on senior Russian military figures. Those operations have allegedly used Russian recruits, couriers and delivery workers, but the specific evidence against Reutt beyond the investigators’ claims remains unavailable publicly.
Also read: Dual Russian-Australian citizen charged over alleged Ukraine intelligence transfer.
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