Russian investigators have arrested a young woman for the murder of war-glorifying blogger Vladlen Tatarsky in a St. Petersburg cafe, the BBC writes.
26-year-old Darya Trepova was placed on the list of wanted persons, and the Russian Investigative Commission confirmed the arrest. Russian media reported that Tatarsky was presented with a statuette shortly before his arrest, and explosives allegedly were in it.
‼️In St. Petersburg, propagandist and military correspondent Tatarsky died after an explosion in Prigozhin’s cafe.
According to russian media:• an explosion in a cafe Street bar, where, previously, there was a “creative evening” of Tatarsky;• a girl carried the bomb to a… pic.twitter.com/yixwlqu0SX
— Maria Drutska ?? (@maria_drutska) April 2, 2023
It’s claimed that Vladlen Tatarsky, one of the most known Russian military propagandist is dead. In St. Petersburg, Russia, an explosion has just occurred in a cafe where Vladlen Tatarsky, was holding a “creative evening”. pic.twitter.com/WfQAFlBt8B
— Special Kherson Cat ??? (@bayraktar_1love) April 2, 2023
The cafe Street Food Bar No 1, where the events took place, used to belong to the owner of the Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin. More than 20 people were injured in the explosion.
According to media reports, Trepova was detained hours after her mother and sister were questioned.
The woman spent a few days in custody last February after being arrested during anti-war protests.
Tatarsky, real name Maxim Fomin, was an active supporter of Russia’s brutal war, but was neither an official nor in a military. He was part of a community of pro-Kremlin bloggers who played a relatively prominent role in Russia after the war, but at the same time he was one of those who criticized the authorities recently after Russia suffered losses on the battlefield.
At this time, it is not clear what is behind Tatarsky’s murder, but it is similar to the murder of Darya Dugina, an active supporter of the war and the daughter of Russian ultra-nationalist Alexander Dugin. She was also killed in the bomb blast. The bomb was planted in the car.
Russian officials have already hinted that Ukrainians are to blame. Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to the Ukrainian president, blamed Russia’s internal political struggles for the explosion.
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