A well-known Russian military blogger, Vladlen Tatarsky, is seen in this undated social media picture obtained by Reuters on April 2, 2023. Telegram @Vladlentatarskybooks/via REUTERS
Well-known Russian military blogger Vladlen Tatarsky was killed by a bomb blast in a St Petersburg cafe on Sunday in what appeared to be the second assassination on Russian soil of a figure closely associated with the war in Ukraine.
Russia鈥檚 state Investigative Committee said it had opened a murder investigation. St Petersburg鈥檚 governor said that 25 people were wounded and 19 of them were being treated in hospital.
It was not immediately known who was behind the killing. The head of Russia鈥檚 Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said on Sunday he would 鈥渘ot blame the Kyiv regime鈥� for it.
But another leading Russian official pointed the finger at Ukraine, without providing evidence. A Ukrainian presidential adviser said 鈥渄omestic terrorism鈥� was breaking out in Russia.
Russia鈥檚 Foreign Ministry made no accusations of involvement in the attack, but said silence in Western capitals exposed hypocrisy over expressions of concern for journalists.
Tatarsky, whose real name was Maxim Fomin, had more than 560,000 followers on Telegram and was one of the most prominent of the military bloggers who have championed Russia鈥檚 war effort in Ukraine while often criticizing the army top brass.
鈥淲e鈥檒l defeat everyone, we鈥檒l kill everyone, we鈥檒l rob everyone we need to. Everything will be as we like it,鈥� he was shown saying in a video last September at a Kremlin ceremony in which President Vladimir Putin claimed four partly occupied regions of Ukraine as Russian territory 鈥� a move rejected as illegal by most countries.
TASS news agency quoted an unnamed source as saying the bomb was hidden in a miniature statue that was handed to Tatarsky as he addressed a group of people in the cafe.
Mash, a Telegram channel with links to Russian law enforcement, posted a video that appeared to show Tatarsky, microphone in hand, being presented with a statuette of a helmeted soldier. It said the explosion happened minutes later.
Prigozhin said that the cafe previously belonged to him, but he has since given it to 鈥減atriotic鈥� activists who have been holding meetings there.
Reuters was not able to independently confirm that.
Denis Pushilin, the Moscow-installed leader of the part of Ukraine鈥檚 Donetsk province that is occupied by Russia, suggested publicly that Ukraine was to blame.
鈥淗e was killed vilely. Terrorists cannot do otherwise. The Kyiv regime is a terrorist regime. It needs to be destroyed, there鈥檚 no other way to stop it,鈥� he said.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said the absence of reaction in Washington, London and Paris 鈥渟peaks for itself given their ostensible concern for the well-being of journalists and freedom of expression.
鈥淭he reaction in Kyiv is striking where those who receive Western grants are in no way concealing their delight at what has happened,鈥� she wrote on the ministry鈥檚 website.
Investigators work at the site of an explosion in a cafe in Saint Petersburg, Russia April 2, 2023. Investigative Committee of Russia/Handout via REUTERS
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Mykhailo Podolyak, a Ukrainian presidential adviser, wrote on Twitter that it had only been a matter of time 鈥� 鈥渓ike the bursting of a ripe abscess鈥� 鈥� before Russia would be consumed by what he called domestic terrorism.
鈥淭he spiders are eating each other in a jar,鈥� he said.
Tatarsky鈥檚 death followed the killing last August of Darya Dugina, the daughter of a prominent ultra-nationalist, in a car-bomb attack near Moscow.
Russia鈥檚 Federal Security Service accused Ukraine鈥檚 secret services of carrying out that attack, which Putin called 鈥渆vil鈥�. Ukraine denied involvement.
Prigozhin said on Sunday that both killings were likely the work of 鈥渁 group of radicals hardly related to the government,鈥� but not of Ukraine.
Russia鈥檚 war bloggers, an assortment of military correspondents and freelance commentators with army backgrounds, have enjoyed broad freedom from the Kremlin to publish hard-hitting views on the war, now in its 14th month. Putin even made one of them a member of his human rights council last year.
They reacted with shock to the news of Tatarsky鈥檚 death.
鈥淗e was in the hottest spots of the special military operation and he always came out alive. But the war found him in a Petersburg cafe,鈥� said Semyon Pegov, who blogs under the name War Gonzo.