Russian War Bloger Killed In Bomb Explosion In Cafe: Moscow Launches Investigation, Wagner Group Boss Doesn't Blame Ukraine

Illustration. (Unsplash/David von Diemar)

JAKARTA - A well-known Russian military blog, Vladlen Tatarsky, was killed in a bomb explosion at a cafe in St Petersburg on Sunday, with the state investigation commission immediately launching an explosion investigation that left dozens of other people injured.

The Russian state investigation committee said it was launching an investigation into the alleged murder related to the explosion. Meanwhile, the Governor of St. Petersburg said 25 people were injured and 19 of them were hospitalized.

It was not immediately known who was behind the killings. However, the head of the Russian Wagner Group's mercenaries group Yevgeny Prigozhin said on Sunday he would "not blame the Kyiv regime" for the incident.

However, another leading Russian official accused Ukraine of not providing evidence. Meanwhile, an adviser to the President of Ukraine said "domestic terrorism" was taking place in Russia.

The Russian Foreign Ministry has not accused the parties involved with the attack. But said the silence in the capitals of Western countries showed defamation over expressions of concern for journalists.

Tatarsky, whose real name is Maxim Fomin, has more than 560,000 followers on Telegram. He is one of the most prominent military blogs who has fought for Russian war efforts in Ukraine, often criticizing top military officials.

"We will beat everyone, we will kill everyone, we will rob everyone we need. Everything will go the way we want," he said in a video last September at a ceremony in the Kremlin, where President Vladimir Putin claimed four areas partially occupied by Ukraine as Russian territory - a move rejected by most countries.

Separately, the TASS news agency quoted an unnamed source as saying the bomb was hidden in a miniature statue given to Tatarsky when he spoke to a group of people at the cafe.

Mash, a Telegram channel that has ties to Russian law enforcement, posted a video showing Tatarsky, with a microphone on his hand, given a statue of a army helicopter. The video shows the explosion occurred a few minutes later.

Separately, Prigozhin said the cafe was previously his. However, he has given it to "patriotics" activists who have held meetings there.

Reuters could not independently confirm this.

Separately, Denis Pushilin, a leader appointed by Moscow in Russia's occupied part of Donetsk province, said publicly that Ukraine was to blame.

"He was brutally murdered. Terrorists cannot do otherwise. The Kyiv regime is a terrorist regime. It must be destroyed, there is no other way to stop it," Pushilin said.

Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said there was no reaction in Washington, London, and Paris "showing that they seemed to care about the welfare of journalists and freedom of expression.

"Reactions in Kyiv are striking, where those who receive aid funds from the West do not hide their joy at what has happened," he wrote on the ministry's website.

Tatarsky's death comes after the murder of Darya Dugina, daughter of a prominent ultra-nationalist figure, in a car bomb attack near Moscow last August.

Russia's Federal Security Service accused the Ukrainian secret service of carrying out the attack, which Putin called a "crime". Ukraine denies involvement.

Unlike others, Prigozhin said on Sunday the two killings were most likely the act of "radical groups not linked to the government," but not Ukraine.

Russian war blogs, consisting of military correspondents and freelance commentators against military backgrounds, have enjoyed widespread freedom from the Kremlin to publicize tough views on war, which has now entered its 14th month. President Putin even appointed one of them to be a member of the human rights council last year.

"He was in a dangerous place in a special military operation and he always came out alive. However, the war found him in a cafe in Sankt Peterburg," said Semyon Pegov, who wrote a blog with the name War Gonzo.