A Russian military blogger was killed after a bomb exploded in a St Petersburg cafe over the weekend.
The death of Vladlen Tatarksy (whose real name is Maxim Fomin) has already led to the arrest of a woman allegedly against the war in Ukraine.
Although this incident in Russia’s second-largest city is far away from the war’s bloody frontlines, it is grabbing international headlines – so here’s what you need to know.
What happened?
Tatarsky had more than 560,000 followers on Telegram, the social media app, and was considered one of the more prominent military bloggers who back Russia’s war efforts.
Born in the now-occupied Donetsk Oblast in eastern Ukraine, he once described Ukrainians as “mentally-ill Russians”.
Tatarsky also didn’t hesitate to criticise anyone who led offensives, including Russia’s president Vladimir Putin, whenever they failed.
He was not an government official or a military officer, but did have a criminal past, according to the BBC and the Kyiv Independent, having served time in Ukrainian prison several times since 2011 for armed robbery. He did still manage to sign up to the Russian armed forces as part of the separatist movement in the Dontesk region in 2014 though, according to the Kyiv Independent.
Like many Russian military bloggers, his status grew as the general public began to distrust the state media for its reports on what was happening on the battlefield.
He was addressing a crowd in a St Petersburg cafe called Street Food Bar No 1 on Sunday evening when a sudden explosion killed him, and left more than 30 others wounded.
According to TASS news agency, the bomb was hidden in a miniature statue, which was then handed to the military blogger while he was standing in front of a group.
The cafe supposedly belonged to the head of the paramilitary Wagner group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, but he claims to have since handed it to “patriotic” activists who hold meetings there.
Apparently, the cafe was hired out by a group called Cyber Front Z, which refers to itself as “Russia’s information troops”, for Tatarsky’s speech on Sunday.
His death was immediately announced as a “high-profile murder” by the Russian authorities and Prigozhin was quick to pay tribute to Tatarsky by posting a video online.
Who was arrested?
Darya Trepova was placed on Russia’s interior ministry’s wanted list in the hours after Tatarsky’s death, shortly after her mother and sister were brought in for questioning.
Her arrest was later confirmed by Russia’s investigative committee.
This was not the first time she had been detained – it last happened in February 2022, after she attended an anti-war protest.
The Ria Novsti agency quoted a source close to the inquiry and claimed “a girl” had allegedly dropped off the package with a “figurine” inside, while another source said the blogger knew the person who had delivered the package.
Russian authorities then released a video (believed to be released under duress) where Trepova admits she handed over the statuette which caused the explosion.
However, in the clip she says she did not know there would be a bomb explosion and did not say who gave the object to her.
Who blames Ukraine?
Many Russian officials have publicly blamed Ukraine in some capacity, despite the lack of evidence.
The country’s anti-terrorism committee said it was all organised by Ukrainian special services with people “co-operating” with opposition leader Alexei Navalny. But his anti-corruption organisation said it was “very convenient” for the Kremlin to blame its critics (Navalny is currently in jail).
Denis Pushilin, who is the Moscow-installed leader of the Russian-occupied Donetsk province, said: “He [Tatarsky] was killed vilely. Terrorists cannot do otherwise. The Kyiv regime is a terrorist regime. It needs to be destroyed, there’s no other way to stop it.”
Russia’s foreign ministry meanwhile slammed the West in response showed hypocrisy over concerns for journalists.
Spokesperson Maria Zakharova said: “Russian journalists constantly feel the threat of reprisals from the Kyiv regime. It is thanks to Russian war correspondents that the world sees true, operational images and finds out what is happening in Ukraine.”
Tatarsky was “dangerous” for Ukraine “but bravely went on until the end, fulfilling his duty.”
Similarly, Russia’s Federal Security Service said that Ukraine’ secret services were responsible for the bomb attack.
Zakharova also took the chance to criticise the silence from the UK, France and US “speaks for itself given their ostensible concern for the wellbeing of journalists and freedom of expression”.
It comes after a Wall Street Journal reporter, Evan Gershkovich, was arrested in Russia and accused of espionage after allegedly “collecting classified information” last week – the first time a foreign reporter was charged with crimes since the beginning of the war. The WSJ denied all the allegations.
Who within Russia does not blame Ukraine?
Ukrainians have demonstrated they can use drones for attacks and explosions inside Russian-occupied land in recent months – but each time, they have hinted that they were involved.
And interestingly, Prigozhin said on Sunday that he would “not blame the Kyiv regime” for the murder and instead said “a group of radicals hardly related to the government” were probably responsible.
Similarly, head of Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, Ivan Zhadanov said Russian security agents were likely responsible.
What has Ukraine said?
Ukraine has denied any involvement in the murder.
Instead, Ukrainian presidential adviser Myhailo Podolyak said “domestic terrorism” was on the rise in Russia.
Could this indicate larger issues within Russia instead?
The think tank, the Institute for the Study of War, said on Sunday that the assassination “is likely part of a larger pattern of escalating Russian internal conflicts involving Prigozhin and Wagner”.
It explained: “Fomin had attended another event earlier in the day without incident, so it appears that the attack was deliberately staged in a space owned by Prigozhin.
Fomin’s assassination may have been intended as a warning to Prigozhin, who has been increasingly questioning core Kremlin talking points about the war in Ukraine and even obliquely signalling an interest in the Russian presidency, whether in competition with Putin or as his successor.”
Prigozhin has publicly lashed out at the Kremlin, claiming the recent military successes in the east of Ukraine were down to his paramilitary troops rather than the Russian army.
He also accused the Russian military chiefs of “treason” by starving his fighters of ammunition back in February.
Is this the first high-profile assassination?
No, Tatarsky’s death does have some similarities with the murder of journalist Darya Dugina, who was also pro-war and the daughter of Russian ultranationalist.
She died in a car bomb attack in August 2022, near Moscow.
Russia accused Ukraine of being responsible for this attack too, but Kyiv denied it and again said it was the result of in-fighting.