Russia Arrests Anti-War Activists After Bomb Explosion That Kills Blogger Vladlen Tatarsky

Illustration. (Pixabay/4711018)

JAKARTA - Russian authorities on Monday announced the arrest of a woman suspected of being involved in a bomb explosion at a St. Petersburg cafe, killing prominent war blog the day before.

Maxim Fomin, a Russian military blog known as Vladlen Tatarsky, was killed on Sunday, the second killing in Russia of a figure linked to the conflict in Ukraine.

"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, launching TASS April 3.

Previously, 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 as a result of the explosion.

It further said, according to preliminary data, an explosive with a force of more than 200 grams of TNT exploded near the stage. Investigators and TKP units are still working at the scene.

On Sunday evening, law enforcement searched Trepova's apartment in St. Petersburg, where her mother and sister were interrogated. According to preliminary reports, it was Trepova who gave Tatarsky a statue filled with explosives. He was then searched by the police.

Separately, an unconfirmed Russian media report said she was found hiding in her husband's friend's apartment in St Petersburg and plans to flee to Uzbekistan.

A court note quoted by TASS showed he was detained on February 24 last year, on the day Russia invaded Ukraine, for participating in what was considered an illegal anti-war protest by authorities.

Russia's FSB security service said last month it had thwarted a car bomb attack backed by Ukraine against a leading nationalist businessman who has been a supporter of Moscow's war in Ukraine.

It is known, having more than 560,000 followers on Telegram, Tatarsky is one of Russia's most prominent pro-war commentators. He was born in Donbas, eastern Ukraine's industrial center, and worked as a coal miner before establishing a furniture business, as quoted by The National News.

After experiencing financial difficulties, he is said to have robbed a bank and was sentenced to prison. He escaped from custody after a Russian-backed separatist insurgency hit Donbas in 2014, weeks after Moscow's annexation of the Crimean peninsula in Ukraine. He later joined separatist rebels and fought on the front lines, before turning into a blog.