Jakarta, CNN Indonesia —
Ukraine suspects the explosion in a St Petersburg cafe that killed pro-President Vladimir Putin blogger Vladlen Tatarsky was the result of an inter-Russian dispute.
“Spiders usually eat each other in jars. The question of when domestic terrorism will become an instrument for internal political strife is only a matter of time,” said Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak, as quoted by CNN.
Podolyak raised these suspicions after the Russian Foreign Ministry mentioned Ukraine in their statement of condolences for Tatarsky’s death.
ADVERTISEMENT
SCROLL TO RESUME CONTENT
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova initially recalled Tatarsky as a writer who stood up for the truth.
Zakharova later discussed how little attention the West has had on Tatarsky’s death, “even though they always paid attention to the presence of journalists and freedom of the press.”
According to Zakharova, Tatarsky was “dangerous” for Ukraine, but “dreadfully worked to the end, fulfilled his duty.”
“Russian journalists continue to feel the threat from attacks by the Kyiv regime (Ukraine),” he said.
He also said, “It was thanks to the Russian war correspondents that the world saw the truth, operational pictures, and learned what happened in Ukraine.”
So far, Tatarsky is known as a military blogger who supports the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The 42-year-old man was born in Donetsk, the eastern region of Ukraine which was recently annexed by Russia.
Tatarsky was killed when an explosion rocked the Street Food Bar No.1 cafe in central St. Petersburg. Apart from Tatarsky, about 19 other people were also injured in the explosion.
(Gambas:Video CNN)
The Russian Interior Ministry said police received a report about the explosion at 18:13 local time.
A source told the TASS news agency that the explosion was caused by “an explosive device hidden inside a statue given to Tatarsky as a gift.”
The group that claims to be the Russian Information Force, Cyber Front Z, claims they rented the cafe at the time of the incident.
“There was a terrorist attack. We have taken security measures, but unfortunately they are not enough,” Cyber Front Z said via Telegram.
The statement continued, “Condolences to all who knew our perfect war correspondent and colleague, Vladlen Tatarsky.”
(has)