Tatyana Ozolina, a Russian blogger known online as MotoTanya, died in a road accident in Turkey. The incident occurred on the Milas-Söke highway. According to initial reports, two of the three riders heading toward Milas collided with a truck, after which one rider struck the right roadside barrier and another collided with the central barrier.
Witnesses contacted emergency services, and police and ambulance teams arrived at the scene. Ozolina died at once, while the second rider received first aid and was transported to Milas hospital for further care.
Another account suggests the cyclists collided with each other while riding: a Turkish rider named Onur Obut reportedly struck Ozolina’s motorcycle near the village of Sarıçay. This version was reported by Anadolu and cited by RIA Novosti.
Images from the crash site showed Ozolina’s heavily damaged red motorcycle on Telegram in the channel “Emergency/accident/Photos and videos from eyewitnesses,” with scattered bike parts visible in the frame.
Tatyana Ozolina built a large following online thanks to entertaining content. Her YouTube channel had millions of subscribers, as did her accounts on TikTok and Instagram. A video in which Ozolina discusses a trip to Tbilisi on a BMW S 1000 RR was posted on YouTube on May 13.
Onur Obut, who traveled with Ozolina, is also a blogger, though less prominent; his Instagram audience reaches hundreds of thousands.
Motorcyclists who knew Ozolina described her as careful on the road.
“We weren’t close, but we did meet while traveling in the mountains. Tanya had just started riding and didn’t ride in large groups. Later, when I had children, I stopped riding and stayed in touch with Tanya through social media. Tanya was gentle, kind, and a nice person. I can’t believe this happened. She rode with care,” said rider Irina.
Early life and beginnings
Tatyana Ozolina was born in Tara, in the Omsk region. At 15 she moved to Omsk, where she pursued both dance training and economics studies. In 2011 she became a mother, and a year later she relocated to Moscow.
Her first motorcycle appeared in 2014, and by 2015 she gained popularity in Russia and beyond through photographs and videos from the biker lifestyle.
She later wrote on MotoTanya’s official site that yearly interest in her motorcycle life grew, culminating in a claim to world-leading subscriber numbers in 2020, a status she maintained for years.
Beyond blogging, Ozolina also traded vehicles, importing new or low-mileage cars and motorcycles from Europe to Russia.
Her passion included long-distance motorcycle travel. In 2017 she rode from Moscow to Krasnaya Polyana in Sochi, with other trips from Moscow to St. Petersburg and back. She continued exploring Belarus, Armenia, Crimea, Georgia, and Ukraine.
Turkey was not Ozolina’s first motorcycle journey. In 2019 she completed a 5,700-kilometer route from Moscow through the North Caucasus and Georgia.
On July 10, MotoTanya shared plans for a new journey on Telegram, inviting followers to meet along the way.
“Today I’m starting a new journey on a motorcycle. I’d love to meet and hug you, my subscribers, along the route,” the post read.
Travel notes and Europe plans
Ozolina reached Tbilisi on July 12 and then moved into Turkey, visiting Samsun, Ankara, and Istanbul. She planned to continue to Greece, but a mechanical issue kept the bike from crossing the border.
She wrote that she hoped to cycle into Greece but ended up returning to Turkey. “I wanted to travel Europe, but the plan shifted. I pressed on to explore Turkey’s warmth and hospitality,” she noted on July 18.
Just before the accident, she announced a stop in Bodrum via Izmir. A Telegram post described an Izmir morning with a warm, bright sun and a high temperature as she looked out from a tall building.
A friend mentioned that Ozolina had planned to film a joint video with another motorcycle blogger in Istanbul before heading to Izmir, but the other rider did not appear.
In the days after the incident, comments poured in on Ozolina’s last Instagram post, with thousands offering condolences. Within the Moscow biking community, messages of sympathy followed the news.
One public post reflected on Ozolina’s influence, noting that she had been a focus of both admiration and debate, celebrated for her achievements while enduring criticism. The note closed with a wish for peace and a hint of hope that the tragedy was a mistake or a misperception, especially regarding a helmet.