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Explosion in St. Petersburg café – military blogger killed, several injured
A video shows the moment of the explosion in a Saint Petersburg cafe
© Screenshot / Twitter / clash report
An explosion destroyed a café in Saint Petersburg on Sunday evening – a well-known military blogger died in the alleged attack and several people were injured.
Military blogger Vladlen Tatarsky died in an explosion at a café in the center of the Russian metropolis of Saint Petersburg on Sunday. This is reported by news agencies, citing the Russian Ministry of the Interior. 16 other people were injured.
Video shows explosion in Saint Petersburg
40-year-old Tatarsky, whose real name is Maxim Fomin, was killed instantly by the detonation. According to unconfirmed media reports, the war correspondent invited to a “patriotic evening” in the Saint Petersburg café. It is said to belong to Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner mercenary group.
A verified video shared on social networks shows the moment of the explosion.
More than half a million people have subscribed to Tatarsky’s channel on the online service Telegram. He supports the Russian actions in Ukraine. The blogger and war correspondent initially fought as an insurgent for the independence of Russian-controlled Donbass from 2014 before turning to journalism. In his blog, he distributed videos of what was happening at the front in Ukraine and most recently gave young Russian soldiers tips on how to behave in the front lines.
According to the investigators’ initial findings, the explosive device was built into a bust that was presented to Tatarsky as a gift at the meeting. The gift – eyewitnesses reported of a gilded bust of the blogger – was presented to him by a young woman, local media wrote. She then sat in one of the back rows of spectators, but disappeared after the explosion. The search for her is in full swing.
Editor’s note: This article has been updated since it was first published.