Vladlen Tatarsky's death: Who is Darya Trepova & what happened at the St Petersburg cafe? All we know

A female Russian anti-war activist has been detained in connection with military blogger Vladlen Tatarsky's death on Sunday at a St Petersburg cafe. The woman in question is 26-year-old Darya Trepova, who allegedly handed Tatarsky a small statue of him in the cafe which reportedly contained 450 gram of TNT. The box was placed on a table next to him and it blew up minutes later. Pictures from the scene allegedly show Trepova at the scene, entering the cafe and giving him the box.

Tatarsky was speaking at a political event at the Street Food No 1 cafe at the time of the incident. The pro-war blogger was blown to pieces, while 32 others were injured.

About Darya Trepova's arrest

Russia's Investigative Committee announced on Monday that Trepova was arrested from a rented apartment on suspicion of carrying out the assassination. Russian anti-terror investigators accused Trepova of carrying out the killing with the help of Ukraine's security services and "agents" linked to opposition leader Alexei Navalny. However, they did not give any evidence that links Trepova to the killing.

Meanwhile, Trepova insists that she is being framed and has nothing to do with the assassination. Her partner, Dmitry Rylov, a member of the so-called Russian Liberation Army, also says that his wife is being "set up". He claims that Darya Trepova "completely misunderstood the purpose" of the statuette she gave to Tatarsky.

"I believe that my wife was set up. I am in full confidence that she would never be able to do something like that on her own volition. Yes, with Daria we really do not support the war in Ukraine, but we believe that such actions are unacceptable," he said.

What happened at the St Petersburg cafe?

Witnesses from the scene say that when asked to sit next to Tatarsky after giving him the box, she seemed reluctane to get close to him. She also identified herself by a fake name, Nastya, at the cafe, witnesses say. According to one such witness, Trepova told Tatarsky that she had made a bust of him but the guards had told her to leave the box at the door, fearing it might be a bomb. He joked about it and insisted on seeing the statuette. She brought the box, opened it and took out the sculpture. Tatarsky placed it on the table, continued taking questions, and a few second later, a blast happened.

Who is Darya Trepova?

Born in Saint Petersburg and a Russian national, Darya was once placed under arrest for 10 days for taking part in an unsanctioned demonstration in February last year after Russia launched its offensive in Ukraine.

According to the Russian newspaper Izvestia, Trepova was due to fly from the Pulkova airport in St Petersburg last night but did not show up. She was reportedly scheduled to fly to Georgia via Turkey.

A second suspect?

The probe into the blogger's death has taken an interesting turn asRussian investigators saythey have identified a second female suspect in the killing. They say the woman is Maria Yaran, aged 40. She reportedly got injured in the blast in St Petersburg cafe.

(With inputs from agencies)

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