Russia detained a woman suspected of blowing up a popular war blogger in a St. Petersburg cafe the day before, while nationalist leaders and pundits blamed Ukraine and demanded retaliation.
On Sunday, Maxim Fomin, known as Vladlen Tatarsky, a Russian military blogger and supporter of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, was assassinated in what looked to be the second such assassination in Russia.
According to TASS, Russian citizen Darya Trepova was arrested for opposing the Ukrainian war.
Tatarsky, a former Ukrainian fighter with over 500,000 Telegram followers, blended ultra-nationalist messages with condemnation of Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine.
The bomb that killed him injured around 30 others. Russian critics regarded the attack as evidence that Ukraine’s war was spreading to Russia.
Russian detectives apprehended 26-year-old Trepova for smuggling explosives into the St. Petersburg café.
TASS said Trepova gave Tatarsky a statue with explosives at Sunday’s café celebration.
Russian media said that she was found hiding in her husband’s friend’s St. Petersburg apartment and planned to flee to Uzbekistan.
Reuters couldn’t confirm.
On Monday, the interior ministry sought Trepova. She was arrested on Feb. 24, 2018, the day Russia invaded Ukraine, for participating in an illegal anti-war rally, according to court documents quoted by TASS.
Russian lawmakers blamed Ukraine’s secret agencies for Tatarsky’s death on Sunday evening without evidence. Ukrainian presidential advisers accused “internal terrorism” of the crime.
This summer, a car bomb near Moscow murdered Darya Dugina, the daughter of a renowned Russian nationalist philosopher. Russia blamed Kyiv. Ukraine denied participation.
Last month, Russia’s FSB security force prevented a Ukraine-backed car bomb assault on a famous nationalist businessman who supports Moscow’s conflict in Ukraine.
RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan termed Trepova’s arrest “a national humiliation” on Monday.
Simonyan, like other hawkish commenters on Telegram, called on Russia to avenge Tatarsky’s murder. “All OK. Will we forget and forgive? “she joked.
