Russia makes arrest, accuses Ukraine of involvement in bombing that killed blogger 

Russia has arrested an anti-war protester they claim was involved in the blast that killed a pro-war military blogger at a St. Petersburg cafe over the weekend, according to the state-run media agency TASS.

Russian investigators put 26-year-old Darya Trepova on a wanted list and later detained her on suspicion of being behind the explosion that killed Vladlen Tatarsky, according to TASS. Law enforcement agents reportedly searched her St. Petersburg apartment and interrogated her mother and sister.

Tatarsky, a popular war blogger whose real name was Maxim Fomin, was killed in a blast during an event hosted by a pro-war group. Thirty others were injured, according to the latest TASS report, and Tatarsky’s death is being investigated as a murder. 

A Russian law enforcement spokesman told TASS that an explosive device “of about a soap bar size was hidden in a figurine that was presented to Tatarsky.”

Russian authorities released video of Trepova admitting she handed over the statuette, BBC News reports, though the outlet notes that the footage was likely taken under duress and that Trepova does not say she knew the figurine would blow up.

Interrogated on who gave her the statuette, Trepova reportedly asked her interrogator if she could explain later.

Russia’s National Counterterrorism Committee said the bombing was “planned by Ukrainian special services” and noted Trepova was an “active supporter” of imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, according to The Associated Press.

Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak appeared to suggest Ukraine was not behind the blast, writing on Twitter that “domestic terrorism” was emerging within Russia.

The cafe where the attack took place was reportedly owned by Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the private mercenary Wagner group, and used by the nationalist group Cyber Front Z.

Prigozhin said on Sunday he did not place blame on the “Kyiv regime” for the blast, but instead fingered a “group of radicals.”

Tatarsky’s death comes about eight months after a car bomb killed the Russian commentator Daria Dugina, the daughter of prominent Russian nationalist philosopher Aleksandr Dugin. The U.S. has said it believes Ukrainian officials were behind that attack.

Russia is now in its 14th month of war on Ukraine, and casualty counts continue to mount on both sides of the conflict. The intensity of Moscow’s assault on Ukraine’s eastern front has appeared to be faltering.

Updated: 11:23 p.m.