A Russian military blogger who voiced his support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine died in an explosion in a café in St. Petersburg on Sunday after he was handed a statue of his likeness.
Maksim Fomin, known on his blog as Vladlen Tartarsky, was speaking at a live event when the bomb went off. More than two dozen others were injured in the attack.
According to BBC News, there are conflicting reports in Russian media about the device that killed Fomin. Russian officials said a woman handed Fomin a statute that investigators believe contained an explosive device.
Videos posted on social media showed him receiving a small statue in his likeness before the explosion.
According to CNN, Russia’s Interior Ministry announced that a 26-year-old anti-war protester has been arrested in the attack.
Daria Trepova was described as a suspect in the murder hours before she was taken into custody.
Fomin had reported from the Ukraine front line, according to BBC News, and was a strong supporter of the more than year-long Russian invasion of Ukraine. He posted a video filmed inside the Kremlin in which he said: “We will defeat everyone, we will kill everyone, we will rob everyone as necessary. Just as we like it.”
Russian officials say they are investigating the explosion as a “high-profile murder,” according to The New York Times.
United States intelligence officials said they believed the attack had been authorized by parts of the Ukrainian government, which denied any involvement.
Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said a Russian “internal political fight” led to the murder, tweeting: “Spiders are eating each other in a jar.”
Russia launched an invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, claiming the territory was historically part of Russia.
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/7QOJU3BNCJERBNKJC5LWTBYFLU.png)
