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- Russia praised a military blogger who died in a cafe explosion on Sunday for "doing his duty."
- Kremlin officials blamed Ukraine for the attack, while Kyiv denied any role.
- Vladlen Tatarsky had gained popularity for blogging about Russia's war efforts in Ukraine.
Russia praised military blogger Vladlen Tatarsky after he died in a cafe explosion on Sunday, saying he died "boldly" and was "doing his duty."
The statement comes from Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, who said on Monday that Tatarsky helped document "truthful and timely footage" about the war in Ukraine.
"It is thanks to the Russian war correspondents that the world sees truthful and timely footage and learns about what is happening in Ukraine. These are people who stand guard over the truth, which the world mainstream has already abused," she said.
Zakharova also pointed a finger toward Ukraine, saying Tatarsky's death was "deemed a 'success' by the Kyiv regime and its thugs."
"The professional activities of Vladlen Tatarsky, his service to the Fatherland aroused hatred among the Kyiv regime," she added. "He was dangerous for them, but boldly went to the end, doing his duty."
Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov also blamed Ukraine, calling the incident "a terrorist act," according to TASS.
Mykhailo Podolyak, an advisor to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's office, denied any role in the explosion, instead attributing Tatarsky's death to an "internal political fight."
"Spiders are eating each other in a jar," Podolyak tweeted. "Questions of when domestic terrorism would be become an instrument of internal political fight was a matter of time, as breakthrough of ripe abscess."
Tatarsky, whose real name was Maxim Fomin, was a popular pro-war Russian military blogger. He covered Russia's war in Ukraine largely on his Telegram channel, according to CNN. Tatarsky also reportedly played a role in Russia's offenses in the Donbas region in 2014, CNN reported, and an assault in Mariupol last year.
A widely-circulated video of Tatarsky from a Kremlin reception celebrating the illegal annexation of four Ukrainian territories last September shows the blogger praising Russian efforts in Ukraine.
According to a translation from CNN, Tatarsky said at the time: "I congratulate everyone, everyone who waited till this moment. We will defeat everyone, we will kill everyone, we will rob everyone we need. Everything will be as we like."
Translations by Oleksandr Vynogradov