The obscure Russian National Republican Army (NRA) has claimed to be behind last Sunday’s cafe strike in St. Petersburg. A pro-Kremlin propagandist declares that “the era of political terrorism has begun”.
19:52•Updated 20:07
The cafe attack in St. Petersburg is a tangled tangle, the perpetrator of which is not certain. This is known about the case.
The first trial for the cafe attack was held on Wednesday, where the 26-year-old Darya Trepova a blogger who spread Russian war propaganda was charged with terrorism Maxim Fominin of death. Trepova faces a 20-year prison sentence. According to Russia, she is a feminist activist.
In the last few days, new videos of the explosion situation spread on social media, in which Trepova brings the statue to Fomin and, at Fomin’s request, sits a couple of meters away from it before the explosion. In the situation, Fomin calls Trepova “Nastya”. After sitting, the woman stomps by raising her arms. It is difficult to determine from the video whether the woman knew about the explosive in the statue.
The National Republican Army and its St. Petersburg branch, on the other hand, claimed to have carried out an attack on a St. Petersburg cafe. The group reported about it on the Telegram channel called Rospartizan yesterday. The target was the pro-war people of the Russian regime and the leader of the Wagner forces Yevgeny Prigozhin owned cafe.
– We have planned and carried out this attack independently, and we have no connections and we have not received help from abroad and especially from intelligence services, writes the group on Telegram.
The group has not presented evidence for its claims, and has not been able to verify it from other sources.
The Russian government has previously claimed that the Ukrainian intelligence service, assisted by an opposition leader, was behind the attack To Alexei Navalny movement.
A researcher from the Foreign Policy Institute who previously commented on the matter to Jussi Lassilan according to the activist, the guilt of the woman activist may have been staged, because the Russian leadership wants to smear opponents of the war or to silence the criticism of war bloggers about the bad results of the war.
Feminists are confused
reached a representative of the Rebra Evi organization, a feminist organization operating in St. Petersburg, to comment on the bombing. Several of the activists who worked in the organization have left Russia. The feminist movement in Russia consists of many groups, but the activists usually know each other.
The organization’s curator Leda Garina the woman accused of the bombing is not known.
– We have never heard from him, Garina replies with a message.
According to the BBC (you will switch to another service) the woman was detained for ten days after she defied the police order at a demonstration in February last year. The anti-war protest was organized on February 24 after Russia invaded Ukraine.
According to Garina, it is difficult to assess who is really behind the attack, but after “terrorist attacks” civil society is disciplined.
“Terrorist attacks” by the FSB are usually followed by strictures in political society. The explosions in the apartment buildings in Volgodonsk were the reason for the second Chechen war, says Garina.
The representative of the organization estimates that the woman will be sentenced to the maximum sentence, i.e. 25 years in prison, as has happened in the past in Russia after attacks like this.
Surprisingly, feminists think it’s possible that pro-war bloggers are a little more cautious after the attack.
– We cannot speak for all feminists. Still, this was good news for us. People who turn real information into propaganda can also be held responsible for what is happening in Ukraine.
According to Garina, it is unclear to them whether the National Republican Army exists.
Russia paints threatening pictures for its own purposes
Margarita Simonyanwho is one of Russia’s well-known TV faces and the most important pro-Kremlin journalists, has been of the opinion that a “new era of political terrorism” began in Russia because of the cafe strike.
The former president agreed Dmitry Medvedevwhich On Twitter (you will switch to another service) blamed the attack on the Russian opposition, which is supported by the West.
– There is no negotiation with terrorists, they are destroyed like rabid dogs, wrote Medvedev in his message.
According to the Rebra Evi organization, the “time of political terrorism” means for all activists and feminists that grassroots projects are being tried to be eradicated once and for all.