Pro-Russian Military Blogger Killed In St. Petersburg Blast

The Russian authorities reported on a blast in St. Petersburg on Sunday that killed a military blogger who supported Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Vladlen Tatarsky, commonly known as Maxim Fomin, lost his life in the explosion at a café where he was attending an event as a guest speaker. According to BBC News, Russia’s Interior Ministry said the explosive device was about the size of a soap bar and was hidden in a figurine presented to Tatarsky, adding that preliminary data show the device had a yield of more than 200 grams of TNT.

Although the exact number varies based on the source, around a dozen or more people were reported to have been wounded and hospitalized. It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the blast. A pro-Russian group called Cyber Front Z posted to Telegram, reporting they had reserved space at the cafe for the evening.

Tatarsky had amassed more than 550,000 followers on the Telegram messaging app, and he was from Makiivka, which is located near Donetsk in Ukraine. Russia claimed to have annexed Donetsk last year. Bloomberg News reported that Tatarsky was present at the Kremlin ceremony to announce the annexation of Donetsk along with three other occupied Ukraine regions in September. Russia began a “special military operation” in Ukraine on February 24, 2022, in an ongoing conflict that has led to tens of thousands of deaths and displaced millions of people.