RTSun, 02 Apr 2023 17:13 UTC
Vladlen Tatarsky (real name Maksim Fomin)
An explosion that rocked the 'Street Bar' café in St. Petersburg, Russia on Sunday has claimed at least one life and left 19 people injured, authorities reported.
Vladlen Tatarsky (real name Maksim Fomin), a military correspondent and blogger, was killed in the incident, according to emergency services.
© Anton Vaganov/ReutersInvestigators and members of emergency services work at the site of an explosion at a cafe in St. Petersburg, Russia, on April 2.
Tatarsky joined the Donbass militias back in 2014 in the wake of the Maidan coup in Kiev. He has since become known in Russia as a blogger and a correspondent reporting on the situation in the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics. Tatarsky has also authored several books.
According to Readovka news outlet, the man was hosting a live event for supporters of his work when an explosion ripped through the building, blowing the café's glass front into the street.
Emergency services have reported that an improvised explosive device was detonated near the stage in the cafe.
Comment: More from RT on the
explosion:
Details emerge on blast that killed Russian war reporter
An improvised explosive device was allegedly camouflaged as a gift presented to the victim, Vladlen Tatarsky
War reporter Vladlen Tatarsky may have been killed by an improvised explosive device disguised as a statuette, Kirill Makarov, the youth policy minister of the Donetsk People's Republic, told Russian media on Sunday. Tatarksy was killed earlier today by an explosion while hosting a live event for his supporters at a café.
According to several Russian media outlets, a young woman presented the figurine to the war correspondent and blogger during the event. Her identity is unknown so far. The police have not commented on this version of events. Law enforcement only confirmed that Tatarsky was killed in the blast, which also left 16 people injured.
Earlier, a source with the emergency services told TASS that an improvised explosive device was detonated near the stage in the café.
Russia's REN TV reported, citing a witness, that the statuette blew up as Tatarsky was holding it.
According to TASS, the IED's power was equivalent to 200 grams of TNT.
A video published by REN TV shows the moment Tatarsky was allegedly given the bomb camouflaged as what appears to be a large bust. The footage shows, however, that it was a man, not a woman, who gave the supposed gift.
Tatarsky became prominent in Russia as a blogger and war correspondent reporting on the situation in Donbass after he joined the local militias in the wake of the Maidan coup in Kiev in 2014. The man, who also authored several books, was hosting a live event in a St. Petersburg café on Sunday.
Someone went to serious effort to get Tatarsky. Was the girl a patsy? Full text of the above tweet:
The explosion in the St. Petersburg cafe, where military commander Vladlen Tatarsky died, was radio-controlled and directional. Its capacity is 100 grams of TNT. This was reported to "Baze" by a source.
The source also said that the explosive device was hidden in plaster. Apparently, in case there was a service dog at the bar where the meeting with Tatarsky was held, capable of smelling an explosive device. It is extremely difficult to do this through plaster.
On the video, the moment of transferring the bust to Vladlen Tatarsky. According to eyewitnesses, it was this figurine that exploded, which the girl had previously presented.
UPDATES 03/04/2023: More information on Tatarsky's murder is being reported by RT. First, the
background:
What happened?
An explosive device went off in the 'Street Bar 1' café in the center of St. Petersburg on Sunday. The explosion was strong enough to blow out the windows of the café and cause its facade to collapse. It is estimated that the improvised explosive device (IED) was equivalent to around 200 grams of TNT and was packed with shrapnel, according to law enforcement officials.
Following the blast, one person - Vladlen Tatarsky - was pronounced dead at the scene, while 33 other people have been hospitalized with various injuries. Some are in critical condition, including a 14-year-old girl, according to the Russian Health Ministry.
Where and when did it happen?
The incident took place at the 'Street Bar 1' café at 25 Universitetskaya Embankment on Vasilyevsky Island in the center of St. Petersburg. The venue was hosting an event for Tatarsky and several dozen of his followers at the time of the explosion.
Russian billionaire and founder of the Wagner Private Military Company, Evgeny Prigozhin, has confirmed that he had business ties to 'Street Bar 1' and said he allowed a "patriotic" club to use the venue. He has compared Tatarsky's assassination to the murder of journalist Darya Dugina, who was killed when her car was blown up last August.
Who was Vladlen Tatarsky?
Vladlen Tatarsky, whose real name was Maksim Fomin, gained prominence in Russia as a military blogger and correspondent during the Ukraine conflict. A Donbass native, he joined the local militias in the wake of the Maidan coup in Kiev in 2014, and served until 2019.
Tatarsky regularly reported on the battlefield developments in Donbass and authored several books. At the time of his death, his Telegram channel had over 560,000 subscribers. Kiev imposed sanctions on him in January of this year.
What have officials said?
The Russian Investigative Committee has opened a criminal case and are treating the incident as a murder. Investigators are at the scene of the incident and are working on leads. St. Petersburg prosecutor Viktor Melnik has told journalists that the investigation will be carried out as rapidly as possible.
Moscow, meanwhile, has branded the incident a "terrorist act" carried out by Kiev. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov claimed that "the regime in Kiev supports terrorist activities" and has been behind numerous murders since 2014.
Who is the chief suspect?
Videos from the event have shown that not long before the blast, Tatarsky was handed a figurine that is believed to have contained the IED. Investigators have since identified the woman who handed the blogger the figurine as 26-year-old Darya Trepova.
After being placed on a wanted list, Trepova was detained in St. Petersburg on Monday. According to local news outlets, she was hiding out in an apartment that belonged to a friend of her husband, and had booked tickets for a flight to Uzbekistan.
In a video published by Russia's Interior Ministry, Trepova admitted to handing Tatarsky "the figurine that exploded," but refused to say how she had obtained the item and asked investigators if she could "tell them about it later."
Russia's National Anti-Terrorism Committee (NAC) has claimed that the "terrorist act" was planned by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) using agents collaborating with opposition figure Alexey Navalny's anti-corruption fund (FBK). It was stated that Trepova was a supporter of Navalny and his group.
According to Shot news, Trepova reportedly told investigators that she was recruited by a man named Roman Popkov - a journalist believed to have ties to the SBU. Trepova allegedly said that Popkov initially "taught her journalism" but then asked her to "do a task" for a "contact" of his.
Trepova reportedly claimed that she was instructed to strike up a friendship with Tatarsky in order to recruit him later on. Trepova admitted that she had brought the figurine containing the explosive device to St. Petersburg in her car several days ago, but has insisted that she did not know about the nature of the figurine and thought it was a listening device.
The accused bomber has been
admitted she brought the device to the bar:
"МВД Russia publishes video of the detention of a woman allegedly involved in an explosion in a cafe on Vasilievsky Island in St. Petersburg "As a result of operational and investigative measures, police officers in cooperation with colleagues in St. Petersburg...
0:23
⏺📹 Video interrogation of a woman allegedly involved in the explosion in a cafe on Vasilevsky Island in St. Petersburg"
In the clip, Trepova admits that she "brought in the statuette that exploded" in the café in the city's historic center, killing the blogger, whose real name is Maksim Fomin, and injuring 32 people.
When asked whether she understood why she had been detained by law enforcement, the suspect said that it was for "being at the scene where Vladlen Tatarsky was murdered." Trepova, 26, also said that she would "explain later" where she had obtained the figurine from.
Trepova was arrested earlier in the day, hours after her name was included on Russia's wanted list. According to Irina Volk, the Interior Ministry's spokeswoman, she was detained at her rental apartment in St. Petersburg during a police operation.
The Kremlin called Tatarsky's murder a
terrorist attack comparable to the murder of Darya Dugina last year:
The explosion that killed Russian military blogger Vladlen Tatarsky in a St. Petersburg café was a terrorist attack, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday. His statement came after Russian authorities accused Ukraine of orchestrating the blast.
"Of course, this constitutes an act of terrorism," Peskov claimed during a call with journalists. "The regime in Kiev supports terrorist activities... [and] has been behind the murders of many people since 2014," he added.
[...]
Moscow has repeatedly accused Ukraine of conducting terrorist attacks on Russian soil, including the bombing of the Crimean Bridge in 2022. Russian officials claimed that Ukrainian agents were behind last year's murder of journalist Darya Dugina, who died in a car bombing near Moscow. Ukraine denied any involvement in the incident.
Moscow fingers Kiev, the logical culprit, as
staging the operation:
The blast in St. Petersburg that killed military blogger Vladlen Tatarsky was orchestrated by Ukraine, Russia's National Anti-Terrorism Committee (NAK) said on Monday. It described the murder as "a terrorist attack."
According to the NAK, Kiev used "individuals who collaborated with [Alexey] Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation [FBK]" to carry out the attack. Officials described suspect Darya Trepova, who was detained on Monday, as an "active supporter" of the FBK.
Navalny, an anti-corruption campaigner and opposition figure, founded the FBK in 2011. The organization was labeled by the authorities as 'extremist' and banned in Russia in 2021.
The Kremlin has
named the head of the operation as Roman Popkov:
Roman Popkov, a Russian journalist and opposition activist
The attack on Tatarsky was orchestrated by Roman Popkov, a former journalist with the MBKh Media outlet founded by exiled oligarch and staunch Kremlin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Trepova is reported to have said. According to the suspect, Popkov "taught her journalism" at first but then asked her to carry out a task for a "contact" of his.
Shot claimed that Popkov's contact was an SBU agent, although his identity has not been revealed. The Russian Interior Ministry published a video earlier on Monday in which Trepova admitted to bringing the bomb camouflaged as a statuette to Tatarsky's meeting with his followers. In the footage, Trepova said she would "explain later" where she had obtained the figurine from.
According to Shot, Trepova brought the statuette to St. Petersburg in her car several days ago. She also claimed that her contacts tasked her with striking up a friendship with Tatarsky to later recruit him. She reportedly maintained that she was told the figurine contained a listening device.
Citing sources, other news outlets reported that Popkov is now working for exiled former State Duma Deputy Ilya Ponomarev. Ponomarev, who currently resides in Ukraine, has repeatedly threatened to launch a terror campaign targeting Russian officials and anyone he deems to be supportive of Moscow's actions in Ukraine. The former deputy has also claimed to have ties to what he called a guerilla movement in Russia.
Ponomarev previously alleged that this movement was behind the high-profile murder of another Russian journalist and public figure, Darya Dugina, who was killed in a car blast last year. Russian officials later claimed that Ukrainian agents were behind her murder.
Meanwhile Russia has posthumously awarded Tatarsky the
Order of Courage:
Russian President Vladimir Putin has posthumously awarded Vladlen Tatarsky, a prominent Russian war correspondent and blogger, the Order of Courage. Tatarsky was recognized "for the courage and bravery he displayed in line of his professional duty," a presidential order published on Monday said.
© Global Look Press / Vladimir BoikoOrder of Courage
Tatarsky gained prominence as a war correspondent and a blogger in Russia amid the ongoing conflict between Moscow and Kiev. A Donbass native, he joined the local militias in the wake of the Maidan coup in Kiev in 2014. Tatarsky (real name Maksim Fomin) left his service in 2019 before moving to Moscow and authoring several books about his life.
Following the start of the Russian military operation in February 2022, he returned to Donbass, where he reported on the developments on the ground on a daily basis.
In the wake of his murder, Russian Foreign Ministry's spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, said that Russian journalists are facing a "witch hunt" in the West, as well as "death threats" from Kiev, which are silently ignored by international bodies and relevant professional associations.
Comment: More from RT on the explosion:
Someone went to serious effort to get Tatarsky. Was the girl a patsy? Full text of the above tweet: UPDATES 03/04/2023: More information on Tatarsky's murder is being reported by RT. First, the background: The accused bomber has been admitted she brought the device to the bar: The Kremlin called Tatarsky's murder a terrorist attack comparable to the murder of Darya Dugina last year: Moscow fingers Kiev, the logical culprit, as staging the operation: The Kremlin has named the head of the operation as Roman Popkov: Meanwhile Russia has posthumously awarded Tatarsky the Order of Courage: