A captivating Russian beauty, known for strolling beaches in revealing outfits and indulging in thrills like parachuting, harbored a deadly trap beneath her glamorous exterior. It was into this trap that Robert Shagiev—deputy commander of the Russian Black Sea Fleet’s submarine brigade—walked to his death. Margarita Ryut, a 32-year-old model and health worker from Sochi, has been arrested by the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) on charges of orchestrating a daring remote-controlled bombing in Sevastopol, occupied Crimea, on August 13. Her transformation from a glamorous figure to an alleged assassin working for Ukrainian intelligence has caused a sensation across the region; the story was reported by The Guardian.
According to investigators, the slain Robert Shagiev had previously commanded Ukraine’s only submarine before defecting to the Russian Navy following the annexation of Crimea in 2014. On the morning of August 13, while walking through a residential area of Sevastopol in his naval uniform, he was killed instantly when a remote-controlled bomb—equivalent to 500 grams of TNT and pre-planted in a street-side trash bin—was detonated. Police detained Margarita Ryut within hours of the incident and claimed to have recovered the remote control used in the blast during a search. The FSB stated that Margarita confessed a Ukrainian intelligence handler had promised her a large sum of cryptocurrency and documents to facilitate her safe relocation abroad.
A look into Margarita’s past reveals a thrill-seeking and reckless nature. While working for an alternative medicine company in Sochi, she frequently enjoyed luxury vacations in Turkey, Thailand, Sri Lanka, and Cuba, often sharing glamorous photos on social media. However, she developed intense resentment towards Russia after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine. She had previously been fined for criticizing Russian soldiers while on a train. Around the middle of this year, she began using a secret phone. Under the pretext of scouting locations for a music video, she traveled to Crimea and monitored a commander’s movements. It is believed that Ukrainian intelligence executed a formidable plot against Moscow through this woman, who was known among her friends as a beautiful and ever-cheerful person.
