In St. Petersburg, a well-known blogger and military commissar Vladlen Tatarsky (real name Maxim Fomin) died in an explosion in a cafe. First, this was reported to RIA Novosti, citing a source, then the information was also confirmed by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and officials of the Donetsk People’s Republic. Petersburg Investigative Committee opened a criminal case under Art. The fact of the explosion on 105 (murder) of the Criminal Code.
“Vladlen Tatarsky died as a result of a terrorist attack. I knew Maxim personally, he was a genuine and fair person. The fatal blow to St. No one could have imagined that it would be given in St. Petersburg,
DPR Minister of Youth Policy Kirill Makarov wrote on his Telegram channel.
The explosion occurred in the Patriot bar on the Universitetskaya embankment on Vasilievsky Island. On the evening of April 2, a creative meeting with Tatarsky was held there, on their posters the name “There is such a profession – military commissar” was announced. According to Fontanka, the cafe belonged to structures close to the founder of PMC Wagner Yevgeny Prigozhin.
According to the press service of the St. Petersburg Ministry of Internal Affairs, they received information about the explosion that occurred in the cafe at 18:13. Investigators and emergency services are at the scene.
“As a result of the incident, one person died, it turned out to be war correspondent Vladlen Tatarsky. “16 people were injured, they are being examined by paramedics,” he said.
Petersburg Governor Alexander Beglov reported that all the victims are currently receiving medical attention. And the head of the district took on himself the task of coordinating the work of the special services and providing assistance to the wounded. Beglov later said 25 people were injured, 19 of whom were hospitalized. According to REN TV, four of them are in serious condition.
According to preliminary data, a self-made explosive device exploded. According to media reports, he was taken to a cafe by a girl and hid in a figurine presented to Tatarsky. The strength was temporarily estimated at 200 grams of TNT, the IED was filled with damaging elements. Witnesses say the victims suffered multiple shrapnel wounds.
“Fontanka” quotes the words of one of the event’s visitors. According to him, about a hundred people attended, including Nastya, who called herself an artist and said that as a gift she made a bust of Tatarsky. It was full and was first in the wardrobe.
“He goes there, takes a big box, gives it to him, there’s something gilded there. Just kidding – I hope you didn’t make me fat. He says thank you and puts it in order. It sits in place, about three minutes pass. Explosion, explosion, flames, everyone flees. “Nastya” seemed to have not left beforehand,” the witness said.
Other eyewitnesses told the media that the figurine literally exploded in Tatarsky’s hand. Cell phone footage captured a gift with a bomb inside – it’s clear that the military commander opened the box and took out a figurine about 50cm high and then placed it on the table next to it.
One of the attendees of the meeting said that Tatarsky invited the girl to sit next to him and supposedly knew her. However, after the gift was presented, it was “lost somewhere” and was not seen. Citing a source, RIA Novosti writes that the figurine was examined before the presentation, and the girl was actually familiar with the organizers. Then “112”, the suspicious girl’s St. She reported that in one of the hospitals in St. Petersburg she was in moderate and shock.
Another eyewitness said the girl explained to Tatarsky that she was asked to leave the statuette at the entrance “because it was a bomb suddenly.” The army commander ironically reacted to this, and he himself asked for a gift.
“The exploding of the statue is one version the investigation is considering. The explosion occurred at a height of 60 centimeters from the ground, a source from the Interior Ministry told RBC. According to him, the power of the APU was from 300 to 450 grams of TNT.
Baza also writes that the explosive in the figurine is just one of the options. Investigators also consider the version that the girl who brought the gift was used “in the dark”, according to their information – she could not have known about the EYP inside. The bomb can be activated remotely using a radio signal.
In the images taken from the scene, it is seen that the interior of the institution was almost completely destroyed. The moment of the explosion was caught on street security cameras – it is noticeable that all the exterior windows were broken by the blast wave.
In an interview with socialbites.ca, a girl named Anna said that she heard an explosion as she passed near the Academy. Repin. Then he went to the bar.
“I also thought it was like shooting a cannon at Petropavlovka, but not then. And there are certainly victims. There were at least two ambulances. There were wounded, there were people on stretchers. Apparently there were corpses (a stretcher covered with something). There were 20-30 people directly near the building, including service workers. But I approached when not everyone had been evacuated or some had already been taken away,” he said.
The organizer of the event said that the cafe was rented for a discussion club with Tatarsky. He also took security measures, but it was not enough. The media write that there are no metal detectors at the entrance of the institution and visitors are not checked.
Some Telegram channels reported that the attack could be an unsuccessful assassination attempt on Yevgeny Prigozhin – one of their headquarters is located just a few hundred meters from the Patriot cafe. Especially political scientist Konstantin Dolgov said that the founder of Wagner PMC may have come to the meeting where the explosion occurred.
At the same time, RBC’s source at the Ministry of Internal Affairs said that the Russian special services had long known that an assassination attempt was being prepared against Tatarsky.
Tatarsky was 40 years old. He is a native of Makeevka, near Donetsk. He worked in a mine, then went into business. It is known that he was sentenced to prison after an armed bank robbery. Tatarsky said he escaped from prison in 2014 and joined the DPR militia.
After the formation of the Republican People’s Militia, Tatarsky went on an expedition. Since 2019, he actively leads the Telegram channel, where he publishes reports from the fronts and his views on what is happening in Donbass. After the start of the special operation in Ukraine, he returned to the DPR and enlisted in the Vostok battalion.