Kremlin Calls Bomb Explosion That Kills Tatarsky War Blogger Action Terrorism, There Is A Possibility Of Ukraine's Involvement
JAKARTA - The assassination of war blog Vladlen Tatarsky is an act of terrorism, with Russian President Vladimir Putin having been notified of the incident, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday.
"This is an act of terrorism, you and I have seen the statement of the National Anti-terrorism Committee. Now there is an active phase of the investigation, we see quite energetic steps to detain the suspects," Peskov said as reported by TASS April 3.
"Let's be patient in any case and wait for a statement from our special services working there. There is evidence, seen from the statement by the National Anti-terrorism Committee, that the Ukrainian special service may be involved in planning this terrorist attack and of course, this is a terrorist attack," Peskov stressed.
Answering a clarification question whether the president knew this, he assured: "Yesterday, he was immediately notified of this matter."
Furthermore, on the same occasion Peskov could not comment on whether Tatarsky would receive an posthumous award from the head of state.
"I can't say anything about it yet. I don't have this information," he said, adding that journalists would be notified after the data was clarified.
Peskov added that the Kremlin hopes that the victims of the explosion can recover soon. "And, of course, our condolences to Fomin's family and friends, who died as a result of this terrorist attack," he said.
As previously reported, the explosion occurred at Streetfood-Bar No. 1, the center of St. Petersburg City on April 2. In addition to killing Tatarsky, who was holding an event there, more than 30 people were injured in the explosion.
Russian authorities on Monday announced the arrest of a woman suspected of being linked to the bomb explosion that killed Tatarsky.
"Russian Investigative Committee officers are working with secret agents to detain Darya Trepova, on suspicion of being behind a cafe explosion in St. Petersburg," the Investigative Committee said.
Having more than 560,000 followers on Telegram, the owner of Maxim Fomin's real name is one of Russia's most prominent pro-war commentators. He was born in Donbas, the center of eastern Ukraine industry, as quoted by The National News.