St Petersburg Blast Kills Russian Blogger, Injures 32 More

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Facts

  • A blast in a St Petersburg café on Sunday killed a prominent Russian military blogger and injured 32 other civilians — 10 of whom remain in serious condition, Russian authorities said on Monday.1
  • Russian officials also confirmed that they arrested Darya Trepova on Monday — a St Petersburg resident wanted in connection with the blast after she was seen handing a figurine (the source of the blast) to Vladlen Tatarsky moments before it detonated and took his life. Tatarsky, whose real name was Maxim Fomin, had more than 560K followers on Telegram and was one of the country’s most influential military bloggers.2
  • Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova blamed Ukraine for the attack. Meanwhile, Mykhailo Podolyak, a Ukrainian presidential adviser, said turmoil inside Russia was to blame. 'Spiders are eating each other in a jar,' he said. Neither account could be confirmed and the motivation for the blast has not been publicly identified.2
  • Meanwhile, a separate terror attack was carried out on Monday in the Russian-held city of Melitopol in Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region. A car explosion targeted Maksym Zubarev, a Ukrainian serving as the head of the Russian administration in the village of Yakymivka. It was reported that he was in hospital with serious injuries, but that he survived the attack.3
  • In Russian attacks over the past day, Ukrainian officials reported that six civilians were killed and 15 more were injured in the Donetsk region. One civilian was reported killed in Kherson while another was reported injured in Kharkiv. The region of Mykolaiv was also attacked without reports of civilian casualties.4
  • In Donetsk's Bakhmut — the site of months of fighting — the head of the Russian mercenary force Wagner PMC, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said he has raised a Russian flag over Bakhmut's city hall, making it Russian 'in a legal sense.' However, he conceded that Ukrainian forces remain engaged in fighting in the west of the city. Ukrainian officials said Prigozhin's account was 'fake.'5
  • In other developments, the head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), Metropolitan Pavel — who is currently at the center of a dispute with the Ukrainian government over leasing the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra monastery — was placed under house arrest and ordered to wear an electronic bracelet over the weekend. He was charged with condoning Russia's invasion, which he denies.6

Sources: 1Associated Press (a), 2Guardian, 3Ukrainska pravda, 4Ukrinform, 5BBC News and 6Associated Press (b).

Narratives

  • Anti-Russia narrative, as provided by Ukrainska pravda. The murder of the Russian military blogger took place inside a café owned by Wagner PMC head Yevgeny Prigozhin. This was likely intended as a warning to Prigozhin, who has questioned the Kremlin's talking points on Ukraine, and was part of an effort by Russian authorities to consolidate control of the information space.
  • Pro-Russia narrative, as provided by Tass. This was a despicable act of terrorism that resulted in the death of one person and injured 30 more. Russia's National Antiterrorism Committee is still investigating the crime and it remains too early to identify the motive. However, there are signs that Ukraine's Security Service may have had a hand to play.

Predictions