An explosion at a cafe in St. Petersburg, Russia, has killed Vladlen Tatarsky, a military blogger.
The explosion also injured 19 people, Russia’s Investigative Committee said in a statement, adding that the number of those hurt is still in flux. The committee has opened a criminal case to investigate the explosion.
Tatarsky, 40, was a pro-war blogger who supported the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine as well as the annexation of four Ukrainian regions in September.
The improvised explosive device was the size of a bar of soap and was hidden in a statuette presented to Tatarsky, Tass said, citing an unidentified person in law enforcement. The power of the device was the equivalent of more than 200 grams of TNT, Tass reported earlier.
Last year, Darya Dugina, 29, whose father is a prominent Moscow nationalist who advocated a “Russian World” ideology to justify expansion by the Kremlin, was killed in a car bombing.
