Moscow: 6Following an explosion that left a prominent military blogger dead and numerous others injured, Russia detained a young woman on Monday, asserting that the bombing attack was planned by Ukraine with assistance from Alexei Navalny's supporters who are currently imprisoned.
Vladlen Tatarsky, a well-known supporter of Moscow's offensive against Ukraine, was killed in the blast in a Saint Petersburg cafe on Sunday. Vladlen Tatarsky's death has been attributed by Ukraine to internal strife in Russia.
The assault came after Darya Dugina, a well-known ultranationalist intellectual's daughter, died in a car bombing outside of Moscow last August, which Russia also attributes to Ukraine.
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Both the National Anti-terrorism Committee and Russia's Investigative Committee claimed that the most recent attack was the work of pro-Navalny activists.
A video of the arrest of Darya Trepova, 26, who the Investigative Committee claimed "holds opposition views and is a supporter of the Anti-Corruption Foundation," a reference to Navalny's outlawed group, was made public by the Investigative Committee. Political analysts predicted that the bombing could be used as justification for more repression of those who oppose Moscow's offensive in Ukraine.
The attack, according to Navalny's spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh, could also be used to charge the imprisoned opposition politician with new offences. Yarmysh wrote, "Alexei will soon be on trial for extremism. He faces 35 years in prison." The Kremlin said, "It's wonderful to be able to add the terrorism charge."
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There is evidence, according to the Kremlin, "that the Ukrainian special services may be related to its organisation," which it described as a "terrorist attack." Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, told reporters he was too preoccupied with his own nation to pay attention to the attack in Saint Petersburg.
Tatarsky, whose real name is Maxim Fomin, is said to have been murdered after receiving an explosive-rigged statuette at "Street Food Bar No. 1," which is situated near the Neva River and the old city centre.
The 40-year-old, a native of the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, fought alongside pro-Kremlin separatists before becoming a well-known military blogger with 500,000 followers on social media.
Tatarsky recorded himself saying, "We will defeat everyone," at a Kremlin ceremony in September 2017 that announced the annexation of four regions of Ukraine. We'll all be killed. Everybody will be robbed as necessary. Just how we prefer it.
According to a Kremlin decree issued on Monday, President Vladimir Putin posthumously presented Tatarsky with the Order of Courage in recognition of his "courage and bravery shown during professional duty."
Russians decorated a temporary memorial in Saint Petersburg with flowers in memory of the blogger, who was imprisoned before joining the separatists who support the Kremlin.
Student Igor Ivanov, 18, expressed shock and said he closely followed Tatarsky. He declared, "This is a heavy loss. Tatarsky's passing was compared by 27-year-old Vladislav Andreev to the bombing of Dugina.
He declared, "These people will stop at nothing." In the video that the Investigative Committee made public, a young blond woman is seen entering a lift with a suitcase before men in dark uniforms lead her into a room.
Trepova was heard in a video released by the Russian interior ministry claiming to have brought an explosive statuette to a cafe in Saint Petersburg. When asked who gave it to her on camera, the Russian national replied, "Later."
The so-called Anti-Corruption Foundation's agents assisted Ukrainian security services in planning the terrorist attack, according to the National Anti-terrorism Committee of Russia.
According to reports, at least 100 people were present at the event on Sunday when the bombing attack happened. At the café, Alisa Smotrova told AFP:
"They placed (the figurine) in an undisclosed location in the back, and then there was an explosion. She continued, "There was blood, and pieces of glass." Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Wagner paramilitary group, claimed ownership of the location in the past. On social media, Prigozhin claimed that he had "given the cafe to the patriotic movement Cyber Front Z, who used it to host various seminars."
Cyber Front Z, which describes itself as "Russia's information troops" on social media, claimed to have reserved the space for the event. Prigozhin claimed that his troops raised the Russian flag over the city administration of the frontline hotspot of Bakhmut, which Wagner claimed to have taken control of. The flag had an inscription honouring the deceased blogger.
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Mykhaylo Podolyak, a presidential aide from Ukraine, suggested on Sunday night that the attack was the result of internal strife in Russia. It was only a matter of time, he wrote on Twitter, before domestic terrorism was used as a weapon in intra-political conflict. The blogger was honoured by the Russian foreign ministry on Sunday for his "service to the Fatherland, which aroused Kyiv's hatred."