Russia: Yevgeny Prigozhin salutes the memory of blogger killed in explosion

Bearers carry the coffin containing the body of military blogger Vladlen Tatarsky during the funeral in Moscow on April 8, 2023. AFP - ALEXANDER NEMENOV

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2 min

Several hundred people were present this Saturday, April 8 in Moscow for the funeral of the Russian blogger killed in a bomb attack Sunday, April 2. Among them, Wagner's conductor, Yevgeny Prigozhin.

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In the west of the Russian capital, hundreds of people came to pay their respects one last time on the coffin of Maxim Fomin. Better known as Vladlen Tatarski, the military blogger was killed Sunday in a bomb attack at a St. Petersburg caféowned by Yevgeny Prigozhin. Among the crowd that was meticulously searched by the large law enforcement apparatus put in place was the leader of the paramilitary group Wagner. "Vladlen Tatarski will stay with us, his voice will continue to resonate," he said, according to Russian news agency Ria Novosti.

Maxim Fomin was one of the best-known pro-Kremlin and Russian aggression bloggers on Ukraine with his 500,000 followers on Telegram. To ensure its communication, Russia makes extensive use of these activists who publish reports. Thus, many of them were sent to Ukraine in order to propagandize Moscow. Proof of their importance, the blogger was posthumously decorated by the Russian president on Monday, the day after his death. The Order of Courage was awarded to Maxime Fomin "for the courage and bravery he showed in the performance of his professional duties," according to a decree published on the Kremlin website.

Woman arrested

Moscow has accused Kiev and "agents" of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny of involvement in the assassination. Russian authorities arrested and charged a 26-year-old woman, Daria Trepova, with "terrorism", who admitted to offering the blogger a booby-trapped statuette, which exploded during the event, killing him and injuring about <> others. However, Daria Trepova has not yet claimed to have participated voluntarily in the attack, nor to mention possible sponsors. Ukraine, for its part, said that it was an internal settling of scores in the circles supporting the offensive in Russia.

This incredible murder, whose contours are still vague, illustrates in any case the spread in Russia of violence linked to the conflict, which now strikes far from the front. In August, Darya Dugina, the daughter of a prominent pro-Kremlin ideologue, was also killed in a bomb attack near Moscow.

► Read also: Blogger killed in an explosion: the mark of "a resistance" in the heart of Russia?

(

With AFP)

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