A well-known Russian military blogger, a strong supporter of the military offensive in Ukraine, was killed Sunday by an explosion that also injured 32 people in a cafe in the old center of Saint Petersburg. Known as Vladleen Tatarsky, the blogger appears to be the target of this attack. “A girl” “probably” brought an “explosive device”, according to a source quoted by the Ria Novosti agency. “There was a figurine in the box: a gift for Vladlen Tatarsky,” adds this source.
A criminal investigation was opened for “murder using a dangerous means”, and a 26-year-old young woman, the main suspect, was arrested. The Ukrainian authorities have for their part denied any link with the death of the blogger, while Moscow now accuses kyiv of having orchestrated the attack with the complicity of supporters of the imprisoned Russian opponent Alexei Navalny.
“We will kill everyone”
Aged 40 and born in the Ukrainian Donbass, Vladlen Tatarsky, whose real name is Maxim Fomin, was a well-known figure in the military blogosphere in Russia, with more than half a million subscribers on his Telegram channel. He was particularly shocked last September when he was enthusiastic, facing the camera in the Kremlin, following Vladimir Putin’s speech. “We will defeat everyone, we will kill everyone, we will rob everyone we need,” he exulted in a video.
According to the media, before becoming a blogger, Maxime Fomin had been imprisoned in Ukraine for a robbery in 2011. In 2014, taking advantage of the clashes during the war unleashed in eastern Ukraine by separatists led by Moscow, he escaped from prison and joined the ranks of these pro-Russian militia fighters. Before joining, later, the informational front.
Powerful propaganda tool
After the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, he quickly declared support for the “special military operation”. He then joined the group of voenkor : “military correspondents” who document military operations more precisely than state media, publishing from the frontline analytical videos on the situation on the ground, while sometimes being critical of state decisions- major, which makes them more believable.
On Sunday evening, the day of the attack, the blogger was speaking at an event organized by the group Cyber Front Z, which describes itself on social networks as bringing together “information soldiers from Russia”. . The cafe, which had been rented for the event, also belongs to the leader of the paramilitary group Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin. The latter indicated Monday morning on Telegram that he had entrusted the restaurant in question to “Cyber Z Front”.
The Russian Foreign Ministry paid tribute to Vladlen Tatarsky on Sunday evening. Bloggers like him “are defenders of the truth”, spokeswoman for Russian diplomacy Maria Zakharova said on Telegram, adding that the lack of response from Western governments, “despite their concern for the well-being of journalists and the free press, says a lot”. Vladlen Tatarsky was “dangerous” for Ukraine and died “while doing his duty”, continued the spokeswoman. In his last video on Sunday, the blogger evoked in the Russian fight in Ukraine “a holy war against the antichrist”.