Russian investigators are today desperate to find two women suspected of involvement in the murder of one of Vladimir Putinpropagandists in a cafe in St. Petersburg.
Vladen Tatarsky, whose real name is Maxim Fomin, was blown to pieces yesterday after a woman, reportedly Daria Trepova, 26, entered a cafe and handed him a small statue of herself allegedly loaded with explosives.
Tatarsky, 40, a staunch supporter of Putin and his associates invasion of Ukrainehad been speaking at a political event at No. 1 Street Food café when the bomb exploded next to him, killing the propagandist and injuring 32 others.
Now police are looking for two female suspects – Trepova and Maria Yaran, 20, who some reports say is in hospital in St Petersburg following the blast.
Investigators have put Trepova on Russia’s wanted list on suspicion of murdering Tatarsky after she fled the scene. It is believed that a video shows her walking to the cafe with a box containing what may have been the figurine which allegedly contained 450g of TNT.
A video is believed to show Daria Trepova, 26, walking to the cafe carrying a box containing what may have been the figurine which allegedly contained 450g of TNT
Investigators have put Trepova (pictured) on Russia’s wanted list on suspicion of murdering Tatarsky after she fled the scene
Vladen Tatarsky, whose real name is Maxim Fomin, was blown to pieces yesterday after a woman, reportedly Daria Trepova, 26, entered a cafe and handed him a small statue of herself allegedly loaded with explosives
Russian investigators search the cafe where a pro-Kremlin blogger calling for the destruction of Ukraine was ‘killed’ and 30 others injured in a bomb attack
Footage from the cafe appears to show Trepova handing Tatarsky a canister of herself before starting to walk back to her seat.
“Tatarsky stopped her and asked her to sit next to him,” a witness claimed, adding that she said she was shy and didn’t want to sit too close.
Trepova and her boyfriend, Dmitry Rylov – also in his twenties and a member of the so-called Russian Liberation Army – had previously been detained at anti-war rallies in Russia.
Trepova had a ticket for a flight from St Petersburg’s Pulkova Airport last night after the explosion, but she did not show up, Izvestia reports.
The direction of the flight was not reported, but there were suggestions that she wanted to reach Georgia via Turkey.
Investigators searched Trepova’s flat but she was not found, while her mother was reportedly taken from the house and taken to a police station.
A report from Telegram channel VCK-OGPU claimed that it accessed Trepova’s private web exchanges with a friend in a secret web chat.
This suggested that she had come to St. Petersburg from Moscow at the end of last week and was planning to fly abroad – to Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, via Istanbul.
Trepova, a former shop assistant in St. Petersburg, is said to have had breakfast with her friend yesterday.
After the explosion, Trepova reportedly sent a message to her friend to say, “I could have died there, I would rather have died there, I was framed.”
The well-known Russian military blogger Vladlen Tatarsky (pictured) was killed in a bomb attack at a café in St Petersburg on Sunday.
The moment of the explosion that killed top Kremlin blogger Vladlen Tatarsky and injured dozens
Tatarsky was killed in an explosion at Street Food Bar No. 1, located in the center of Saint Petersburg.
Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin admitted to owning the cafe where the explosion killed Tatarsky.
“I did indeed pass the cafe on to a patriotic movement called Cyber Front Z,” he said. ‘They did several seminars there.
“It is indeed similar to the murder of Darya Dugina [daughter of a Putin ideologue who was killed aged 29 last year in a car explosion]. I wouldn’t blame the Kiev regime for it.
“I think it was a group [Ukrainian] right-wing radicals who did it, who are probably not associated with the government.’
Police told RBC media that ‘the explosion was at a height of 60 centimeters from the floor’, adding that the bomb contained between 300 and 450 grams of TNT. “The explosion was to Tatarsky’s right,” police added.
A report said security at the cafe – where Tatarskyn was attending a seminar – had prevented Trepova from bringing the statuette to the meeting because of fears it might be an explosive device.
A witness said: ‘The girl who brought the figurine sat a little further away from me, and when she started talking about this, she said they wouldn’t let her in at the entrance.
This is when Tatarsky handed over a statuette believed to have hidden the bomb that exploded at No. 1 Street Food Bar
She said they said ‘there could be a bomb’. That’s exactly what she said. She literally asked [Tatarsky] for permission: ‘Can I bring it in anyway?’
And Vladlen says, “Bring it in…we’ll see if there’s anything in there.” Those were his words.’
A video shows Tatarsky promising the destruction of Ukraine.
He said, ‘We will conquer everyone, we will kill everyone. We’ll plunder whoever we need, and everything will be as we want it to be.’
Some Russian outlets immediately blamed Ukrainian authorities for the blast, but it is unclear for now whether this was the case.
Russian Senate pro-Putin speaker Valentina Matviyenko said: “Vladlen wrote the truth, he wrote simply, vividly.
“It made him a target for our enemies, who fear the strength of our spirit, the will of our people.
“And Vladlen not only fought in the militia, collecting aid for our soldiers, but more importantly, he shaped the people’s understanding of the special operation.
“And I’m sure he did a lot for our future victory.”