One of the most influential pro-war Russian bloggers has met a timely end. According to reports, he was given a statue at an event that contained at least 200 gms of TNT. It went boom and so did he, dying instantly. Tatarsky hasn't endeared himself to Ukraine, saying at an event after Putin annexed four only partly occupied regions: “We’ll conquer everyone, we’ll kill everyone, we’ll loot whoever we need to, and everything will be just as we like it."
No one has claimed responsibility yet, but the Russians are blaming Ukraine. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova pointed the finger at Kyiv, without citing any evidence, of course. “Russian journalists are constantly experiencing threats of reprisal from the Kyiv regime and its inspirers, which are increasingly being implemented,” Zakharova said. Meanwhile, Ukraine's Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to the President’s office, wrote on Twitter: “Spiders are eating each other in a jar. Question of when domestic terrorism would become an instrument of internal political fight was a matter of time.” And he may well be right, as the event took place in a Wagner Group (a quasi-private military operation) location owned by Yevgeny Prigozhin. If the Kremlin wanted to send a strong message to Wagner this would be one way they'd do it.
h/t Ukraine Matters for the video.
Source: The Guardian
A prominent pro-war Russian military blogger has been killed in a blast in a cafe in central St Petersburg, Russia’s interior ministry said in a statement.
Vladlen Tatarsky, whose real name was Maxim Fomin, had more than 560,000 followers on Telegram and was one of the country’s most influential military bloggers.
The interior ministry said 19 people were injured in the blast on Sunday. Citing sources in the country’s security agencies, the RIA news outlet said a bomb was hidden in a statue presented to Tatarsky in a box as a gift. There was no indication of who was responsible.
Videos posted on social media show an explosion and injured people on the street.
Tatarsky was among the attendees at a Kremlin ceremony last September where Vladimir Putin proclaimed Russia’s annexation of four partly occupied regions of Ukraine, a move widely condemned by the international community.
A report from CNN.
And some tweets and background.
Seen here with another Russian propagandist, Dariya Dugina. She was also blown up.
A woman is already in custody, suspected of the murder. She appears to be Russian but is described by Russian authorities as an anti-war activist.
UPDATE: He was apparently blown up by a likeness of himself.
