The Investigative Committee of Russia sent journalist Roman Popkov to St. Petersburg, in which the military commander Maxim Fomin (Vladlen Tatarsky) was killed.
“During the investigation, it was determined that journalist Roman Popkov, living in Ukraine, was involved in the commission of the crime. He was placed on the wanted list and in absentia charged with a crime under Part 4 of Art. 205.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (leadership in committing a terrorist act),” he said.
The maximum penalty under the article is life imprisonment.
According to the investigation, Popkov corresponded on social networks with Daria Trepova, who was directly accused of carrying out the terrorist attack, and gave her instructions.
In turn, the Ministry of Internal Affairs put Popkov on the wanted list, he is following from the base of the department.
“Popkov Roman Andreevich wanted under the article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation,” says the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
It was reported earlier that Trepova told investigators that it was Popkov who asked her to complete the task – handing it over to Tatarsky with her image that later exploded.
Popkov himself confirmed that he had met Trepova, but said that he did not give her any instructions. According to her, Trepova was her subscriber on social networks and was engaged in journalistic activities, she was planning to go to Ukraine.
Commenting on the wanted list on the Telegram channel, Popkov stated that he was “discharged from the Russians”.
Who is Roman Popkov?
Popkov was born on August 29, 1978. In 1999 he joined Eduard Limonov’s National Bolshevik Party (an organization banned in Russia) and was chairman of its metropolitan branch. Prior to that, he was a member of the Bryansk branch of the Russian National Union (the organization is banned in Russia). Mihail Aksel, the coordinator of the successor of the other Russian party NBP, said that Popkov has had nothing to do with the National Bolsheviks since 2009. He noted that Popkov was seen as a traitor in the party. In 2009, Limonov expelled him from the association for “faction activity” – a split within the NBP – and communication with officials of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the FSB.
Popkov took part in many high-profile actions of the National Bolsheviks – the seizure of the presidential administration and the public reception rooms of United Russia. In 2006, Popkov was detained after unidentified persons attacked Limonov and his associates near the Tagansky courthouse. In 2008, he was sentenced to two years and three months in prison under the “Hooliganism” section of the Penal Code, but was soon released as he spent almost his entire sentence in a pre-trial detention centre.
Popkov was also the editor of Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s MBKh Media (known in the Russian Federation as a foreign agent) and a member of the Open Russia organization.
In 2014, he moved to Kiev after “Maidan” in Ukraine. Now he criticizes SVO.