An improvised explosive device (IED) exploded in a St. Petersburg cafe this Sunday (April 2nd), killing war correspondent and blogger Vladlen Tatarsky and injuring more than 30 people participating in a ‘creative evening’.
The bomb was hid inside a statuette, a bust of Tatarsky that was gifted to him by a young woman, later revealed to be Daria Trepova.
Slavyangrad, on Telegram, reports:
“There were up to 100 people. A [woman] was sitting at a table alone. She said, ‘I’m an artist; I wanted to work on [Special Military Operation] heroism, but it’s not easy. So I’ve only made your bust so far.’
[…] She goes there, takes a big box, and gives it to him; it’s something gilded. He jokes, ‘I hope you didn’t make me fat.’ He says thanks and puts it down. She sits back down, and about 3 minutes go by. Explosion, boom, flames—everyone runs.”
While IED attacks have been fairly common in the war zone in Ukraine, this is the second terrorist attack carried out ‘in the very heart of Russia’.
The first was the daughter of famed philosopher (and Putin advisor) Alexander Dugin, who died in the Moscow region – and now Vladlen Tatarsky was killed in St. Petersburg.
They were both ‘soft targets’, with high visibility and symbolic significance, but with little to no security.
A suspect, Daria Trepova, has been arrested and confessed to having delivered the statuette with the bomb to Tatarsky. What remains to be seen is whether she knew it was a bomb, or else she was kept in the dark by accomplices – a possibility, since she did not leave the room and was there during the blast that killed the reporter.
Daria had already had run-in with police, having been detained for 10 days after taking part in West-sponsored anti-war rally in February 2022.
“I was set up! I was just being used!” Russian sources state that there were the first words out of Daria Trepovas mouth. Trepova was reportedly given statuette packed with explosives by accomplices, told it contained ‘a wiretap’, and given job of getting close to Tatarsky in order to “recruit” him for anti-Russian cause.
Russian Internal Affairs Ministry sources are claiming that the terror attack was carefully planned in advance by the Ukrainian security apparatus, with multiple terrorists involved.
Dmitry Peskov, Kremlin Spokesman: ‘Murder of war reporter Tatarsky was clearly a terror attack, with Kiev regime quite possibly behind it. Kiev regime supports terrorist actions and has been behind many murders since 2014, this is why the special military operation is being carried out.’
UPDATE: Russian president Wladimir Putin awarded the Order of Courage to Vladlen Tatarsky.
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