Vladlen Tatarsky, an influential pro-Russian military blogger, had more than 500,000 followers on Telegram
An explosion in a cafe in Russia’s second city of St Petersburg killed a well-known ultra-nationalist war correspondent, fighter, and propagandist.
Vladlen Tatarsky was killed by a bomb hidden inside a statue handed to him during a speech to his supporters, in what appears to be the second assassination on Russian soil since Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine.
Tatarsky, one of the country’s most well-known pro-Russian military bloggers, was giving a talk about his frontline reporting at a bar owned by Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Kremlin’s Wagner mercenary unit, which is leading Russian attacks on Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine.
Tartarsky was the only person killed in the blast, according to Russian police, though 15 others were injured.
Within an hour of the bombing, powerful Russian commentators blamed Ukraine and threatened retaliation. Ukraine blamed the attack on Russian internal strife.
“The spiders are eating each other in a jar,” said Mikhail Podolyak, Volodymyr Zelensky’s adviser. “Troubles await Russia, and we will keep an eye on them.”
Tatarsky is reviled in Ukraine for publicly demanding that everyone be “killed and robbed,” but he also has detractors in Russia for exposing military failures on the battlefield and demanding that the Kremlin increase the war effort.
Mr. Putin is likely to respond militarily to his death, having previously launched waves of missile strikes in Ukraine to avenge casualties.
A video of Tatarsky’s final moments, according to bloggers, was released hours after his death.
It showed him relaxed in jeans and a T-shirt, giving a talk at the cafe while accepting what appeared to be a carved bust from an admirer.
According to the Baza media account, which cited Russian police sources, the bomb was hidden in the statue to avoid detection by sniffer dogs at the cafe’s front door and was detonated by remote control.
“The figurine blew up. “A girl had given it to him earlier,” according to the outlet.
Tartarsky, real name Maxim Fomin, was filmed in the Kremlin’s grand Hall of Mirrors in September, celebrating Mr. Putin’s illegal annexation of four Ukrainian regions that the Russian army has partially captured since invading in February 2022.
“We will defeat everybody, kill everybody, rob everybody, and everything will be as we want it to be,” he said in the video.
Tatarsky reported extensively from the front lines during the conflict and was widely regarded as particularly anti-Ukrainian, even among the most ardent nationalists.
He last updated his Telegram feed at 2 p.m., a few hours before his death, urging the Russian army to use cluster bombs against the Ukrainian army, praising Wagner advertisements he had seen across Russia and railing against plans to build a mosque near a Russian Orthodox church in Moscow.
“It’s nice to see this kind of outdoor advertising.” “I also saw Wagner advertisements in Rostov,” he wrote today, alongside a photo of a mercenary group advertisement in Moscow.
“However, this is not yet the case in many cities.” I’m hoping the only reason is that they haven’t had time to order them yet.”
Tatarsky’s Telegram avatar was a skull and crossbones, similar to Wagner’s branding.
Last August, Russia’s Federal Security Service accused Ukraine’s secret services of killing Darya Dugina, the daughter of an ultranationalist, in an “evil” car bomb attack near Moscow. Ukraine has denied any involvement.
Within an hour of the attack, prominent Russian commentators blamed Ukraine and threatened retaliation.
“As the public face of the terrorist regime, Zelensky is personally responsible for this attack.” “The attack was meticulously planned,” said Sergei Markov, a former Kremlin adviser and political commentator.
Although Ukraine has not claimed responsibility for the attack, some officials in Kyiv have celebrated the death of one of the Kremlin’s most devoted propagandists.