Explosion in St. Petersburg cafe kills prominent Russian pro-war military blogger

According to certain reports, a bomb was concealed within a statue of the blogger and presented as a gift. On Sunday, the blast occurred in a café in Russia’s second-largest city, resulting in the death of a prominent military blogger and an outspoken advocate for the conflict in Ukraine.

As per the regional governor, Alexander Beglov, a total of twenty-five individuals sustained injuries in the explosion, with nineteen of them being admitted to hospitals for treatment. The Russian authorities mentioned that Vladlen Tatarsky lost his life while presiding over a conversation at the café situated on the Neva River bank in the culturally significant center of St. Petersburg.

READ ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: Russia bombards Ukraine on somber Bucha commemoration.

Russian military bloggers and Russian media said that during a public meeting with members of a patriotic group, a woman presented him with a box containing a bust of him, apparently blowing up the organized event, but it was said that insufficient security precautions had been taken.

During the Tatarsky discussion, Nastya identified herself as the woman who said remarks and asked questions. These remarks were recorded on video as a witness.

Tatarsky and Nastya playfully bantered and chuckled. Subsequently, she seized the sculpture, proceeded towards the entrance, and offered it to Tatarsky. According to the witness, Alisa Smotrova, Nastya recounted that she had crafted a statue of the blogger; however, the security guards, suspecting it might be an explosive device, requested her to leave it at the doorway.

Smotrova described the panic of people running, with blood in and glass shattered from some injury. He reportedly put the bust on a nearby table after the explosion.

The coffee shop following the blast was featured in a video shared on Russian messaging app platforms. The ground was covered with fragments of glass, while the furniture and seating were shattered and tainted with blood.

Prior to the occurrence, investigators have not excluded the chance that an explosive device was placed in the coffeehouse, however Russian media stated they were considering the statue as the potential cause of the explosion.

The Investigative Committee of Russia, the country’s foremost criminal investigation agency, initiated an investigation into allegations of homicide.

She was driving on the outskirts of Moscow when an explosive device, controlled remotely, blew up in her SUV. She was killed in August last year, and the bombing was compared to the killing of TV nationalist commentator Darya Dugina. Immediately, patriotic commentators and military bloggers pointed a finger at Ukraine, but no one publicly claimed responsibility.

Russian authorities accused Ukraine’s military intelligence for the death of Dugina, but Kyiv denied any involvement.

FIND OUT MORE: Russians honor nationalist commentator who was assassinated in a car explosion.

Alexander Dugin, a political theorist and nationalist philosopher, who is hailed as an “immortal” hero by the Russian people, strongly supports the invasion of Ukraine, which her father also strongly supports.

Dugin insisted that a triumphal procession should be held in Kyiv and emphasized that discussions with the insurgents should solely revolve around their complete capitulation.

Russia has insisted on launching attacks on Ukraine’s right, and officials in Kyiv have greeted such events at the same time. Ukrainian authorities have refrained from claiming responsibility for assassinations, explosions, fires, and various other incidents in Russia since fighting began in Ukraine on February 24.

A high-ranking government official from Ukraine described the explosion that resulted in Tatarsky’s death as a manifestation of internal conflict.

When asked about the internal political fight, Mykhailo Podolyak, the presidential adviser on English Twitter in Ukraine, wrote “Spiders are eating each other in a jar,” highlighting that domestic terrorism could be a significant concern.

Fomin Maxim, known by the pen name Tatarsky, had accumulated more than 560,000 followers on the messaging app Telegram. He regularly filed reports from Ukraine.

Prior to transitioning to blogging, he became a member of rebel forces advocating for separation and engaged in combat on the forefront. Following the annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula by Moscow, a separatist insurrection supported by Russia consumed the Donbas region in 2014, shortly after he escaped from detainment. His involvement in a bank heist resulted in a prison sentence when he encountered financial hardships. Hailing from Ukraine’s industrial hub, the Donbas, Tatarsky initially worked as a coal miner before embarking on an entrepreneurial venture in the furniture industry.

Tatarsky was recognized for his forceful declarations and fervent pro-war speech.

That’s how things will be according to our preferences. May God protect you. We will overcome every opponent, eliminate every individual, and steal from anyone necessary. Following the Kremlin’s unlawful incorporation of four Ukrainian territories last year, which was condemned by most of the global community, Tatarsky shared a video in which he declared: “That concludes the matter.

Bloggers in the flow of information about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have increasingly played a prominent and influential role. While they occasionally criticize tactical and military strategy decisions made by the Russians, they have almost universally championed the goals of the campaign.

The Kremlin has suppressed alternative viewpoints that oppose the war by imprisoning critics and restricting the public’s ability to obtain information, while simultaneously closing news organizations.