Russian investigators have detained a woman in the hunt for the killers of pro-war blogger Vladlen Tatarsky in a blast at a St Petersburg cafe.
In video released by authorities – most likely recorded under duress – Darya Trepova is heard admitting she handed over a statuette that later blew up.
But in the footage released, she does not say she knew there would be an explosion, nor admit any further role.
More than 30 people were wounded in the bombing in Russia’s second city.
Tatarsky had been attending a patriotic meeting with supporters in the cafe as a guest speaker.
A video circulating on social media showed a young woman in a brown coat apparently entering the cafe with a cardboard box.
Images showed the box being placed on a table in the cafe before the woman sat down. Another video showed a statue being handed to Tatarsky.
In a brief excerpt of her interrogation released by the ministry, Darya Trepova, 26, appeared under duress as she sighed repeatedly.
When her interrogator asked if she knew why she was detained, she replied: “I would say for being at the scene of Vladlen Tatarsky’s murder… I brought the statuette there which blew up.”
Asked who gave it to her she responded: “Can I tell you later please?”
Russia’s anti-terrorism committee alleged the attack was organised by Ukrainian special services “with people co-operating with” opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, which has released a series of exposes of corruption involving the Putin entourage, said it was “very convenient” for the Kremlin to blame its critics.
Mr Navalny has been in jail ever since he returned to Russia from Germany in January 2021. He survived a nerve agent attack in Russia in August 2020, which was blamed on Russian FSB security service agents.
Foundation head Ivan Zhdanov said everything pointed to FSB agents themselves. “Naturally we have nothing to do with this,” he said, adding that Russia needed an external enemy in the form of Ukraine and a domestic one in Navalny’s team.
Source: bbc.com
