Russia blames Ukraine for cafe bombing that killed pro-war military blogger
Russian authorities blamed Ukrainian intelligence agencies Monday for orchestrating a bombing at a St. Petersburg cafe that killed a Russian military blogger who fervently supported Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, and they arrested a suspect accused of involvement in the attack.
Ukrainian authorities did not directly respond to the accusation, but President Volodymyr Zelensky said he did not think about events in Russia and a senior Ukrainian official described the bombing as part of Russia’s internal turmoil.
Vladlen Tatarsky, 40, was killed Sunday as he was leading a discussion at a cafe on the banks of the Neva River in the historic heart of Russia’s second-largest city, officials said. Tatarsky, who had filed regular reports from the front lines in Ukraine, was the pen name of Maxim Fomin and accumulated more than 560,000 followers on his Telegram messaging app channel.
The bombing, which also wounded more than 30 other people, was the latest attack inside Russia on a high-profile pro-war figure. Ten of the wounded remain in grave condition, according to authorities. Last year, a nationalist TV commentator was killed when a bomb exploded in her SUV outside Moscow.
Investigators have said they believe that the bomb was hidden in a bust of the blogger that was given to him just before the explosion. A video showed Tatarsky making jokes about the bust and putting it on the table next to him.
Russian authorities Monday announced the arrest of Darya Trepova, a 26-year-old St. Petersburg resident who has been seen on video presenting Tatarsky with the bust. Last year, she was detained by police for participating in a rally against the Ukraine war on the day of the invasion and spent 10 days in jail.
Russia uses its long-range arsenal to bombard anew several areas of Ukraine, killing at least two civilians as the war persists into its 14th month.
The Interior Ministry released a brief video showing Trepova telling a police officer that she brought the statuette that exploded in the cafe. When asked who gave it to her, she said she would explain it later.
According to Russian media reports, Trepova told investigators that she was asked to deliver the bust but didn’t know what was hidden in it.
The National Anti-Terrorist Committee, which coordinates counter-terrorism operations, said that the bombing was “planned by Ukrainian special services” and noted that Trepova was an “active supporter” of jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Navalny, the Kremlin’s fiercest foe, who has exposed official corruption and organized massive anti-government protests, is serving a nine-year fraud sentence that he has denounced as a political vendetta.
Navalny associate Ivan Zhdanov warned that Russian authorities could push false allegations of involvement in the attack by Navalny’s supporters to set the stage for another trial that would extend his prison term. He also alleged that Russian security agencies could be behind the explosion to cast Navalny’s supporters as an “internal enemy.”
According to Russian media reports, police tracked down Trepova using surveillance cameras, though she reportedly cut her long hair short to change her look and rented a different apartment in an apparent attempt to escape.
Russian military bloggers and patriotic commentators compared the bombing to last August’s assassination of nationalist TV commentator Darya Dugina, who was killed when a remote-controlled explosive device planted in her SUV blew up as she was driving on the outskirts of Moscow. Russian authorities blamed Ukraine’s military intelligence for Dugina’s death, but Kyiv denied involvement.
A top Ukrainian official has outlined a series of steps the government in Kyiv would take after the country reclaims control of Crimea from Russia.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the attacks on Dugina and Tatarsky proved that Moscow was justified in launching what it describes as its “special military operation” in Ukraine.
“Russia has faced the Kyiv regime, which has supported terrorist activities,” Peskov said in a conference call with reporters. “That is why the special military operation is being conducted.”
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Russian millionaire owner of the Wagner Group military contractor spearheading Moscow’s offensive in eastern Ukraine, said he owned the cafe and handed it over to a patriotic group for meetings. He said he doubted the Ukrainian authorities’ involvement in the bombing, saying the attack was likely launched by a “group of radicals” unconnected to the government in Kyiv.
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Zelensky, Ukraine’s president, brushed off questions about the bombing Monday.
“I don’t think about what is happening in St. Petersburg or Moscow. Russia should think about this. I am thinking about our country,” Zelensky told journalists.
While not claiming responsibility for various explosions, bombings and other attacks within Russia since the Feb. 24, 2022, invasion, officials in Kyiv have jubilantly greeted them and insisted on Ukraine’s right to launch such assaults.
Ukrainian presidential advisor Mykhailo Podolyak responded to the news about the bombing attack in St. Petersburg by casting it as a result of infighting in Russia.
A Russian court has convicted a man over posts criticizing the war in Ukraine. Authorities came for him after his daughter drew antiwar pictures at school.
“Spiders are eating each other in a jar,” Podolyak wrote in English on Twitter late Sunday. “Question of when domestic terrorism would become an instrument of internal political fight was a matter of time.”
On Monday, Podolyak said that Russia had “returned to the Soviet classics,” citing its increasing isolation, the rise of espionage cases and an increase in political repression.
Last week, Russia’s security service announced the arrest of an American reporter for the Wall Street Journal on suspicion of spying, the first time a U.S. correspondent has been detained on such accusations since the Cold War. The newspaper vehemently rejected the allegations and demanded his release.
Born in the Donbas, Ukraine’s industrial heartland, Tatarsky worked as a coal miner before starting a furniture business. When he ran into financial difficulties, he robbed a bank and was sentenced to prison.
He fled from custody after a Russia-backed separatist rebellion engulfed the Donbas in 2014, weeks after Moscow’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula. Then he joined separatist rebels and fought on the front line before turning to blogging.
While Russian authorities have silenced alternative voices by shutting down independent news outlets and jailing critics of President Vladimir Putin, military bloggers have played an increasingly high-profile role. While strongly supporting the war, they also have frequently pointed out flaws in Russian military strategy and occasionally criticized the military brass.
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