Russia blames Ukraine for bomb that killed military blogger

Moscow: Russia’s top counterterrorism body on Monday blamed Ukrainian intelligence agencies for the bombing attack that killed a well-known Russian military blogger who fervently supported Moscow’s war in Ukraine.

Russian officials said Vladlen Tatarsky, 40, was killed Sunday as he was leading a discussion at a cafe on the banks of the Neva River in the historic heart of St. Petersburg.

Over 30 people were wounded by the blast, and 10 of them remain in grave condition, according to the authorities.

The National Anti-Terrorist Committee, a state structure that coordinates counterterrorism operations, said that the “terrorist act” against Tatarsky was “planned by Ukrainian special services” with the involvement of people who have cooperated with an anti-corruption foundation created by jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

It noted that the arrested suspect was an “active supporter” of Navalny’s group.

Shortly before the announcement, Russia’s Investigative Committee, the top state criminal investigation agency, reported the arrest of Darya Tryopova, a 26-year-old St. Petersburg resident suspected of involvement in the attack.

Tryopova had been previously detained for taking part in anti-war rallies.

Investigators believe that the bomb was hidden in a bust of the blogger that the suspect had given to him as a gift just before the explosion.

According to Russian media reports, Tryopova told investigators that she was used as a carrier to deliver the explosive device, but didn’t know that it was hidden in the bust.

Witnesses said that the suspect asked questions and exchanged remarks with Tatarsky during the discussion.

One witness, said the woman told Tatarsky that she had made a bust of the blogger but that guards asked her to leave it at the door, suspecting it could be a bomb.

They joked and laughed, and then she went to the door, grabbed the bust and presented it to Tatarsky.

A video showed Tatarsky making jokes about the bust and putting it on the table next to him just before the explosion.

Russia’s Investigative Committee, the state’s top criminal investigation agency, opened a probe on charges of murder.

No one publicly claimed responsibility, but military bloggers and patriotic commentators immediately blamed Ukraine for the attack and compared the bombing to last August’s assassination of nationalist TV

commentator Darya Dugina, who was killed when a remotely controlled explosive device planted in her SUV blew up as she was driving on the outskirts of Moscow.

Russian authorities blamed Ukraine’s military intelligence for Dugina’s death, but Kyiv denied

involvement.