The Kremlin in Moscow has classified the assassination of Russian military blogger Vladlen Tatarsky in St. Petersburg as a “terrorist attack”. “There are indications that the Ukrainian secret services could have something to do with the planning of this terrorist attack,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday. The investigations were ongoing. President Vladimir Putin was immediately informed of the attack that killed Tatarski in a café on Sunday. More than 30 people were injured in the explosion.
A 26-year-old suspect is in custody for murder. The Interior Ministry in Moscow released a video in which the alleged perpetrator admits to having been in the café. She handed over a bust to Tatarski, whose real name is Maxim Fomin, which later exploded. The 40-year-old died. When asked who gave her this bust, she said she would say so later.
Peskov accused the leadership in Kiev of supporting “terrorist acts” in Russia. It is the second case in which a Russian propagandist has been killed since Russia’s war of aggression began more than a year ago. Publicist Darja Dugina died in a car explosion near Moscow last year.
The Ukrainian government has “murdered” many people since 2014, Peskov said, referring to the Donbass. This is one of the reasons why there is a “special military operation” in Ukraine. That’s what Russia officially calls its war of aggression. In April 2014, Ukraine launched an anti-terrorist operation against the pro-Russian separatists in Donbass, which was renamed the United Forces Operation in 2018. At the time, the Ukrainian leadership wanted to regain control of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, which had seceded from Kiev in the course of the pro-Western revolution.
Wagner boss sees more radicals behind the attack
The head of the Russian private army Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, sees a group of radicals behind the assassination attempt on military blogger Vladlen Tatarsky in St. Petersburg. “I would not blame the regime in Kiev for these actions,” Prigozhin said on Monday.
Tatarsky, whose real name was Maxim Fomin, was killed in an explosion in a Prigozhin cafe. More than 30 people were injured. The assassination triggered horror in Russia’s power apparatus.
Prigozhin praised the blogger as a patriot and dedicated an event to him in the embattled city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine. There he had a Russian flag hoisted on the administration building – with Tatarski’s name on the fabric. The Wagner boss claimed that Bachmut was taken. The capture of the administrative center is “legal” proof that Ukraine no longer has control over the city. The Ukrainian leadership has always described the situation in Bakhmut as difficult, but has also emphasized that it will hold onto the strategically important location. Neither Kiev nor the Russian military leadership in Moscow have confirmed a case of Bakhmut.
Prigozhin had expressed his dismay at the attack in the café he had given to the nationalist movement Cyber ??Front Z for online war propaganda. The Wagner boss said of the perpetrators behind the attack: “I think that a radical group is acting that should hardly have any connection to the government (in Kiev)”. The Russian authorities have not yet commented on the background.
Notice from the investigative authority Investigative authority on suspects State Anti-Terrorism Committee
