Russian authorities announced on Monday the arrest of the main suspect in the attack that killed well-known Russian military blogger Vladlin Tatarsky, and accused Ukraine and agents of Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny of responsibility for the assassination.
Russia's Investigative Committee said via Telegram that investigators had "arrested Daria Tribova, suspected of involvement in the explosion at a café in St. Petersburg" on Sunday.
An explosion on Sunday at the Street Bar café in Building 25 on Corniche University Street in downtown St. Petersburg killed military correspondent Maxim Fomin, better known as Vladlin Tatarsky.
Tatarsky was reportedly killed after receiving a small statue bomb, and 32 people were injured in the attack.
The videos and a surveillance camera near the café showed the moment the suspect entered the café with the box she presented to Tatarsky as one of his followers, containing a statue said to be filled with an explosive device that later exploded, killing him and wounding 32 others, 10 of them seriously.
Ukraine and Navalny agents indicted
Moscow on Monday accused Kiev of orchestrating the attack that killed military blogger Vladlin Tatarsky — in collusion with supporters of jailed Kremlin's most prominent opponent, Alexei Navalny.
"It has been established that the terrorist act committed on April 2 in St. Petersburg was planned by Ukrainian special services that recruited agents among the collaborators of Navalny's alleged anti-corruption fund," the Russian Counter-Terrorism Committee said, including detained Daria Tripova.
Russian military correspondent Vladlin Tatarsky (Russian press)
Who is Tripova accused of carrying out the assassination?
Russia's RIA Novosti news agency reported that Tripova, accused of carrying out Tatarsky's assassination, had previously been held for 10 days for participating in an unauthorized demonstration in February last year, shortly after Russia launched its war on Ukraine.
The Interior Ministry's website reported that Tribova, 26, was born in St. Petersburg and is a Russian citizen.
Media reported that the suspect in Tatarsky's murder had previously been arrested twice at opposition rallies in St. Petersburg.
Sources also pointed out that her husband has been arrested several times in the past, while the Russian authorities are currently continuing to search for him, as he is "suspected of involvement in coordinating the terrorist operation," according to Novosti.
Who is military blogger Tatarsky?
A prominent Russian blogger, born in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine and a strong supporter of the Russian war in Ukraine, is 40 years old.
Tatarsky has more than 560,<> followers on Telegram and is one of the most influential military bloggers who have been making comments on Russia's war in Ukraine.
Tatarsky was among hundreds invited to a huge Kremlin ceremony in September to announce Russia's annexation of four regions in Ukraine, a move denounced by most countries at the United Nations as illegal.
Tatarsky appeared in a video posted on the occasion, saying: "We will defeat and kill everyone, we will rob everyone we need to rob, everything will be as we like."
If Tatarsky was deliberately targeted, it would be the second assassination on Russian soil of a prominent figure linked to the war in Ukraine.
Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) accused Ukrainian intelligence services in August of killing Daria Dugin, daughter of Alexander Dugin, described as Putin's "mastermind", in a car bomb attack near Moscow.
Russian President Vladimir Putin described the attack as "brutal", while Ukraine denied involvement.