CRIMERUSSIAN FEDERATION
Russian war blogger killed in St. Petersburg blast
Published 5 hours agoPublished 5 hours agolast updated 3 hours agolast updated 3 hours ago
The explosion at a cafe in Russia’s second-largest city also injured more than a dozen other people. The blast reportedly took place during an event organized by a patriotic Russian group.
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Well-known Russian military blogger Vladlen Tatarsky was killed in a blast at a cafe in the Russian city of St. Petersburg on Sunday, Russia’s Interior Ministry said.
The state Investigative Committee said 19 other people were wounded and that it had opened a murder investigation.
“One person was killed in the incident. He was military correspondent Vladlen Tatarsky,” the Interior Ministry said.
The explosion took place at the Street Food Bar No. 1 cafe that had reportedly at one time belonged to Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the Wagner mercenary group that is fighting for Russia in Ukraine.
Russian military blogger, Vladlen Tatarsky, is seen in this undated social media pictureRussian military blogger, Vladlen Tatarsky, is seen in this undated social media picture
Tatarsky had provided running commentary on Russia’s war in UkraineImage: Telegram @Vladlentatarskybooks/via REUTERS
Tatarsky, whose real name is Maxim Fomin, had reportedly invited people to a “patriotic evening” event hosted by Cyber Front Z, a group that refers to itself as “Russia’s information troops.”
“There was a terrorist attack. We took certain security measures, but unfortunately, they were not enough,” the group said on Telegram.
Russia’s TASS news agency quoted a law enforcement source saying the blast was “caused by an improvised explosive device hidden inside a statue given to Tatarsky as a gift.”
It was not immediately clear who was behind the blast. The Interior Ministry said everyone inside the cafe at the time of the incident was being “checked for involvement.”
St. Petersburg blast kills Russian military blogger: Jennifer Pahlke reports from Riga
01:27
Tatarsky supportive but sometimes critical of Russian campaign
Tatarsky had reported from the Ukraine frontline and even attended a lavish Kremlin ceremony last September to proclaim Russia’s illegal annexation of four partly occupied regions of Ukraine.
Originally from Donbas in eastern Ukraine, he was was one of the most prominent of the influential military bloggers who have backed Russia’s war effort.
Although he was a vocal supporter of the war, he also criticized some aspects of the Russian campaign.
He had more than 560,000 followers on Telegram.
If Tatarsky was deliberately targeted, it would be the second assassination on Russian soil of a high-profile figure associated with the war.
Russia’s Federal Security Service accused Ukraine’s secret services last August of killing Darya Dugina, the daughter of an ultra-nationalist, in a car bomb attack near Moscow. But Ukraine denied involvement.
lo/nm (AP, AFP, dpa Reuters)
