The prominent military blogger Vladlen Tatarsky (40) is buried in Moscow. The Russian was killed on Sunday in an attack with a statuette full of explosives in a café in Saint Petersburg. Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin was present at the service. He owned the stricken cafe and paid Tatarsky for his propaganda work. Someone also placed a sledgehammer next to the coffin, a symbol of the Wagnerian mercenaries.
LOOK. This is the moment when the blogger receives the figurine with the explosive
Tatarsky had more than half a million followers on the Telegram messaging channel and, as an ultra-nationalist, was a rabid supporter of the war in Ukraine. Yet he did not shy away from criticism of the Russian army command. A rhetoric that – not coincidentally – is very reminiscent of that of Yevgeny Prigozhin.
In addition to the Wagner boss, several State Duma deputies were also present at the funeral. Police, military and masked private guards kept a close eye on everything.
The blogger’s coffin was surrounded by red flowers, a portrait of the man and medals. Among them was the Order of Courage, one of Russia’s highest honors, which President Vladimir Putin awarded to Tatarsky posthumously. A sympathizer also left a sledgehammer near the coffin, a Wagner symbol of war and the death penalty. It is used, among other things, in the execution of traitors in the Wagner group.
Many of those present wore the signs ‘Z’ or ‘V’, in support of the offensive in Ukraine.
Moscow accused Kiev and Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny’s “agents” of being involved in the violence. Ukraine, for its part, claims that it is an internal settlement. However, it was the Russian resistance group National Republican that claimed responsibility. Daria Trepova, the arrested main suspect, has since been charged with terrorism.
LOOK. Russian footage shows the ‘interrogation’ of Daria Trepova
According to the resistance group, however, Trepova is not to blame. “Russian security forces are acting in their traditional style,” they said in their statement on Telegram. “They blame those they can affect, regardless of their involvement. Incidentally, we carried out this action autonomously, without the help of foreign structures or special services.”
Daria, a well-known figure in the left and feminist movement, can be called a hero. “She not only wrote Facebook messages, but risked her freedom by going to protests. We ask Russian human rights activists to help innocent people who have fallen into the clutches of Putin’s guards. That now also includes Trepova.”
In August 2022, the group also claimed an attack on Darya Dugina, the daughter of Russian political thinker Aleksandr Dugin. However, it remains uncertain whether the National Republican Army carried out that attack and even whether the movement really exists at all.
The Commission of Inquiry, which is in charge of the most important investigations in Russia, previously pointed Trepova as guilty. She was the one who handed over the figurine with explosives, but she was probably not aware of this herself. According to her husband, Trepova assumed that the statue contained a transmitter to eavesdrop on Tatarsky.
Ukraine war has become testing ground for weapons: from Russia’s super cannon to US explosive tape (+)
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