Assassination of Vladlen Tatarsky

On 2 April 2023, an explosion occurred at the Street Food Bar No.1 café on Universitetskaya Embankment in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The café was owned by Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner Group, and was a regular meeting place for the pro-war "Cyber Z Front" discussion club. Russian military blogger Vladlen Tatarsky, whose real name was Maxim Fomin, was killed in the blast. Forty-two people were injured, 24 of whom were hospitalized, including six in critical condition.

According to Russian authorities, Tatarsky was handed a statuette by a woman shortly before it exploded, reportedly containing explosives equivalent to more than 200 grams of TNT. The blast caused the front of the café to collapse. Police arrived at the scene at 18:13 local time.

Darya Yevgenyevna Trepova, a Saint Petersburg resident born 16 February 1997, was identified as a suspect by Russia's Investigative Committee, which alleged she brought a box containing a bust of Tatarsky rigged with an explosive device into the café. Trepova had previously been detained for ten days after attending an anti-war protest in February 2022, and Russian officials described her as an "active supporter" of jailed opposition figure Alexei Navalny. She was detained on 3 April after being placed on a wanted list. In a video released by Russia's Ministry of Internal Affairs, Trepova appeared to confirm bringing the statuette to the café but did not address questions about its origin; unconfirmed reports in Russian media said she told investigators she had been set up and did not know it contained a bomb. Her husband, Dmitry Rylov, said he believed she had been framed.

Russian officials accused Ukraine of orchestrating the attack and labeled it a "terrorist act," a characterization echoed by Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov. Ukrainian presidential advisor Mykhailo Podolyak attributed the attack to "domestic terrorism" and internal political conflict within Russia, while allies of Navalny suggested Russian intelligence services might be responsible. On 4 April 2023, the National Republican Army, a group that had previously claimed responsibility for the killing of Darya Dugina in August 2022, claimed responsibility for the Tatarsky bombing without providing evidence.

The Investigative Committee initially opened the case under Russia's murder statute before reclassifying it under the terrorism statute. On 4 April 2023, Trepova was formally charged with committing a terrorist act as part of an organized group resulting in death, and with illegally carrying explosive devices. She was later also charged with document forgery. On 25 January 2024, Trepova was convicted and sentenced to 27 years in prison, described as one of the longest sentences given to a woman in modern Russian history.

In March 2024, Vasyl Malyuk, head of Ukraine's Security Service (SBU), gave a television interview in which, without officially claiming responsibility, he made remarks widely interpreted as an indirect acknowledgment of Ukrainian involvement in the operation. President Vladimir Putin posthumously awarded Tatarsky the Order of Courage.