A well-known Russian military blogger, a strong supporter of the military offensive in Ukraine, was killed on Sunday and 25 others injured by “an explosive device” at a cafe in St. Petersburg, northwestern Russia, according to reports. authorities.
“Today, a device of unknown nature exploded in a cafe in the center of Saint Petersburg,” the Russian Investigative Committee, responsible for the main investigations in Russia, announced in a statement.
“One person died and 25 were injured, 19 of whom are hospitalized,” Saint Petersburg Governor Alexander Beglov said on Telegram.
According to the investigators, who opened “a criminal investigation” for “murder using a dangerous means”, the victim is “the military blogger known under the pseudonym of Vladlen Tatarsky”.
The surroundings of the building were cordoned off, with around twenty police cars, six ambulances and fire trucks, noted an AFP journalist.
“A girl” “presumably” brought the explosive device, according to a source quoted by the Ria Novosti news agency.
“There was a figurine in the box: a gift for Mr. Tatarsky,” the source added.
“She gave it to him”, then later, “all of a sudden, there was an explosion”, told AFP Alissa Smotrova, a woman present. “There was blood, bits of glass…”
Another source, also quoted by Ria Novosti, specified that the person in question was “known” to the blogger and that they had met “at events”, without giving further details.
According to the Russian Interior Ministry, “at 6:13 p.m. (3:13 p.m. GMT), the police in the Vasileostrovskiy district received information that an explosion had occurred in a cafe on the Universitetskaya Embankment, at number 25”.
The explosion took place in the cafe “Street Food Bar No. 1” located along the Neva, not far from the historic center of St. Petersburg.
“All necessary measures are being taken to identify those involved,” added the Russian Investigative Committee.
Aged 40 and born in Donbass, eastern Ukraine, Vladlen Tatarsky, real name Maxim Fomin, was a well-known figure in the military blogosphere in Russia, with more than half a million subscribers on his Telegram channel.
He has developed his community on Telegram, in particular by publishing, since the start of the Russian military offensive in Ukraine in February 2022, videos of analysis of the situation on the ground and advice for those mobilized, according to the press agency. Cup.
He said he supported Russia’s intervention in its Ukrainian neighbor.
In 2014, he had fought for several months in pro-Russian separatist militias in eastern Ukraine, according to local news outlet Fontanka.
The Russian Foreign Ministry paid tribute on Sunday evening to a “defender of the truth”.
“Russian journalists constantly feel the threat of reprisals from the kyiv regime,” said ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova. “It is thanks to Russian war correspondents that the world sees the real images of operations and finds out what is happening in Ukraine.”
Vladlen Tatarsky was “dangerous” for Ukraine and died “while doing his duty”, continued the spokeswoman, according to which the absence of reaction from Western governments, “despite their concern for the well-being of journalists and the free press speaks volumes”.
The Cyber ??Front Z group, which describes itself on social media as bringing together “information soldiers from Russia”, said it rented the cafe for the evening for an event. “There was a terrorist attack. We took some security measures but unfortunately they weren’t enough,” the group said on Telegram.
According to Fontanka, less than 100 people attended.
An adviser to the Ukrainian presidency, Mykhaïlo Podoliak, reacted quickly, believing that “internal terrorism (as) an instrument of internal political struggle was only a matter of time”.
In August 2022, the FSB, the Russian security services, accused its Ukrainian counterpart of having killed Daria Douguina, daughter of an ideologue considered close to the Kremlin, who died in the explosion of her car near Moscow.
However, such events in Russia have been very rare since the start of the military offensive in Ukraine more than a year ago.
02/04/2023 22:22:36 – Moscow (AFP) – © 2023 AFP