Russia arrests young woman over death of top military blogger

Russia on Monday detained a 26-year-old woman after an explosion that killed a top Russian military blogger, saying the attack was orchestrated by Ukraine with help from supporters of jailed critic Alexei Navalny.

Ukraine has blamed Russia's domestic in-fighting for the blast in a Saint Petersburg cafe that wounded more than 30 people and killed Vladlen Tatarsky, an active promoter of the Ukraine offensive.

The Russian Investigative Committee released a video of the arrest of 26-year-old Darya Trepova, who they said "holds opposition views and is a supporter of the Anti-Corruption Foundation," referring to Navalny's banned organisation.

The footage shows a young blond woman getting in an elevator with a suitcase and then cuts to her being led into a room by men dressed in dark uniforms.

Russian state-run news agency RIA Novosti reported Trepova had been arrested for 10 days for taking part in a protest on February 25, 2022, a day after the launch of the offensive in Ukraine.

The Russian interior ministry also published a video of Trepova in which she is heard saying she brought a statuette that exploded to the cafe.

Asked on camera who gave it to her, the Russian national said she would answer "later".

"The terrorist attack was planned by Ukrainian security services with the help of agents working with the so-called Anti-Corruption Foundation," Russia's anti-terror committee said.

A spokeswoman for Navalny's foundation rejected the accusation.

"Alexei will soon be on trial for extremism. He is facing 35 years. The Kremlin thought: 'It's great to be able to add the terrorism charge'," Kira Yarmysh said.

- Sudden explosion -

Tatarsky was reportedly killed after receiving a gift statuette rigged with an explosive device during a talk at "Street Food Bar No. 1", located along the Neva river not far from the historic city centre.

"They put (the figurine) somewhere in the back without a second thought... and all of a sudden there was an explosion," Alisa Smotrova, who was at the cafe, told AFP.

"There was blood and pieces of glass," she added.

The venue used to be owned by the head of the Wagner paramilitary group Yevgeny Prigozhin.

Prigozhin said on Telegram he "gave the cafe to patriotic movement Cyber Front Z and they organised various seminars there".

Cyber Front Z, which refers to itself on social media as "Russia's information troops", said it had hired out the cafe for the evening.

A local media outlet, Fontanka, said  at least 100 people attended the event.

Prigozhin however said he believed the responsibility for the attack did not lie with Kyiv but with "a group of radicals that is hardly related to the (Ukrainian) government".

The Kremlin condemned the "terrorist attack" and said "there is evidence... that the Ukrainian special services may be related to its organisation".

- 'Kill everyone' -

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told journalists he was too busy focusing on his own country to pay attention to the attack in Saint Petersburg.

On Sunday evening presidential aide Mykhaylo Podolyak said the attack happened as a result of Russian infighting.

"(The) question of when domestic terrorism would become an instrument of internal political fight was a matter of time," he said on Twitter.

Prigozhin said he hoisted the Russian flag with an inscription honouring the deceased blogger over the city administration of Bakhmut, which he claimed to have seized.

The Russian foreign ministry on Sunday paid hommage to the blogger and his "service to the Fatherland, which aroused Kyiv's hatred".

Tatarsky, whose real name is Maxim Fomin, built his reputation early in the Ukraine offensive by publishing videos analysing the situation on the ground and offering advice for mobilised troops, according to TASS news agency.

The 40-year-old came from the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, which Russia claims to have annexed and which is currently mostly held by Russian troops.

After spending time in prison for robbing a bank, he escaped and went to take part in armed combat in the Donetsk region in 2014, Russian newspaper Kommersant reported.

It said he retired from military service in 2019 and founded his popular Telegram channel, which had more than 500,000 followers at the time of his death.

Last September, he told the media at a Kremlin ceremony: "We will defeat everyone. We will kill everyone. We will rob everyone as necessary. Just as we like it."

bur/bp

© Agence France-Presse