Russia has blamed Ukraine and arrested a suspect after prominent pro-war blogger Vladlen Tatarsky, 40, was killed in a bombing attack Sunday night, April 2 as he held an event at a cafe in the center of St. Petersburg.
Russian authorities said on Monday they had concluded that Ukraine worked with backers of Alexiy Navalny, a jailed opposition leader, to carry out the bombing attack that killed one of the country’s most prominent military bloggers and left more than 30 people injured.
Officials in Kyiv and Western military analysts suggested that the incident could have been the result of internal splits as officials in Russia are shocked by the incident.
The Russian Investigative Committee said in a statement that it had arrested a woman by the name of Daria Trepova, 26, in connection with Tatarsky’s death.
A release from the committee did not share any evidence linking Trepova to the incident, or any details about who she is, with the spokesman only saying that investigators are working with Trepova to establish a motive.
Shortly after, Russia’s National Anti-Terrorism Committee said that Ukraine’s security services were behind the blast. It also accused “agents” working with jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny’s anti-corruption organization of being involved.
The counterterrorism agency said Trepova, who had hours earlier been placed on a wanted list, was a supporter of Navalny.
Kyiv did not claim responsibility for the incident, but hinted that it could have been a case of “domestic terrorism.”
The arrest comes after Russian state media reported Sunday that a young woman allegedly handed Tatarsky a bust of himself, containing explosives, shortly before the blast.
Russian media reported that Tatarsky, whose real name is Maxim Fomin, was born in Ukraine but fought on the side of pro-Russian proxies since 2014. After Moscow launched its full-scale invasion last year, he gained fame for his nightly reports from the front lines in Ukraine and analysis of Moscow’s war strategy.
He had amassed more than half a million followers on Telegram, a popular messaging app in Russia on which he shared his videos and thoughts.
He made an appearance at the Kremlin event dedicated to Russia’s illegal annexation of four Ukrainian regions last year. There, he recorded a video, saying: “We’ll defeat everybody, kill everybody, rob everybody we need to. It will all be the way we like it.”
Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakhorova said;
Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, tweeted Sunday suggesting that “domestic terrorism” was to blame. “Spiders are eating each other in a jar,” he added.
Watch videos below
Possible bombing at a cafe in St Petersburg that killed a military commander. Terrorist attacks are now beginning to become a norm in Russian territory…
The explosion occurred in a cafe in St. Petersburg, where the creative evening of the military commander Vladlen Tatarsky… pic.twitter.com/ImQhVh6Xws
— GraphicW (@GraphicW5) April 2, 2023
Dozens were injured in an explosion in the building where blogger Vladlen Tatarsky had been speaking. The blast took the life of pro-war military blogger Vladlen Tatarsky
Find out more 👉 https://t.co/I9cAOXiKMh pic.twitter.com/9cucF5CAfY
— Sky News (@SkyNews) April 3, 2023
This is what it looked like before the explosion and just moments before it happened…
The moment when the statuette with a bomb inside is handed over to Russian War correspondent Vladlen Tatarsky
A man gives the gift to the war correspondent, but it is reported that the… pic.twitter.com/QYMSHVJUJX
— GraphicW (@GraphicW5) April 2, 2023
