A Russian woman jailed today for 27 years for blowing up an anti-Ukrainian military blogger, which prosecutors say was an assassination ordered by Kiev, will be killed in prison by “Wagner’s cult,” another Kremlin warned -spokesman.
Hardline military blogger Vladlen Tatarsky died when a miniature statue presented to him as a gift by Darya Trepova exploded in a St. Petersburg cafe last April.
A court in St. Petersburg found Trepova guilty of terrorism and other charges following the attack and sentenced her to nearly three decades in prison, the court said in a statement on social media.
Trepova, 26, has denied deliberately killing Tatarski, who died while giving a speech. She told the court earlier this week that her “conscience is clear.”
She said she was tricked by contacts in Ukraine and thought she was handing Tatarsky a secret listening device, not a bomb.
The court ignored her plea. She will be 53 years old when she is released.
She was arrested less than 24 hours after the blast.
Hardline military blogger Vladlen Tatarsky died when a miniature statue presented to him as a gift by Darya Trepova (pictured in court today) exploded in a St. Petersburg cafe last April.
Trepova, 26, has denied deliberately killing Tatarski, who died while giving a speech, telling the court earlier this week that her ‘conscience is clear’
The explosion killed Tatarsky in April last year and injured more than fifty people
Prosecutors say she knew the device contained explosives when she gave it to Tatarsky, whose real name is Maxim Fomin.
In court for the sentencing, Trepova sat in a glass box in front of the defendants, wearing a white turtleneck sweater with a pattern of large knitted oranges. She was seen smiling in court after her sentencing before being led away to begin her prison sentence.
Tatarski was an influential military blogger, one of the most prominent among a group of hardline correspondents who have gained a huge following since Russia launched its offensive in February 2022.
They publish exclusive information about the campaign from frontline sources and occasionally criticize Moscow’s military tactics, pushing for a more aggressive attack.
Born in eastern Ukraine, Tatarsky was a convicted bank robber who escaped from prison to fight with Russian-backed separatists against Ukrainian forces when the conflict first broke out in 2014.
He advocated a much more aggressive military campaign against Ukraine.
Trepova opposed the Russian offensive against Kiev.
More than 30 other people were injured in the blast, which ripped the facade of the cafe in St. Petersburg.
President Vladimir Putin posthumously awarded Tatarsky a top award, the Order of Valor, citing his “courage and courage shown during his professional service.”
In court for the sentencing, Trepova sat in a glass box in front of the defendants, wearing a white turtleneck sweater with a pattern of large knitted oranges. She was seen smiling in court after her sentencing, before being led away to begin her prison sentence (pictured)
A video is believed to show 26-year-old Daria Trepova walking to the cafe carrying a box containing what may have been the figurine that killed the Russian military blogger.
Vladlen Tatarsky, 40, is seen with the small statue in a cafe in St. Petersburg just before the explosion
Daria Trepova was filmed moments after passing the box containing the statue to war propaganda blogger Vladlen Tatarsky. She claims she didn’t know it was an explosive
The moment of the explosion that killed Vladlen Tatarsky, the Kremlin’s top war blogger, and injured dozens of people was captured on CCTV outside the cafe
This week, Trepova again denied in court that she knew she had been recruited to carry out a murder.
She said she “never meant to hurt anyone” and asked other victims and their relatives for forgiveness.
“I still do not plead guilty to the charges, but I accept moral responsibility,” she said.
She said her handlers in Ukraine lied to her about the contents of the package and “effectively sent a little girl to her death with a bomb.”
Kiev has denied involvement. An aide to President Volodymyr Zelensky said the killing at the time was the result of domestic “infighting.”
The 27-year prison sentence is one of the longest sentences imposed on dozens of Russians punished for public criticism or crimes committed in protest against the conflict in Ukraine.
Moscow has accused Ukraine of orchestrating several attacks and killings in Russia, sometimes blaming Kiev’s Western allies or domestic opposition.
The most notable was a car bomb that killed Russian nationalist Darya Dugina outside Moscow in 2022.
Kiev denied involvement but appeared to relish the wave of killings and attacks on prominent supporters of the Moscow offensive.
Leading propagandist Margarita Simonyan predicted that Trepovsa would not survive her sentence for killing a soldier. She said there is now a “cult of Wagner” in prisons, referring to Russia’s brutal mercenary army.
‘The cheerful terrorist in the orange sweater… smiles, not knowing that for some time there has been almost a cult of Wagner… the Russian prison population, that they respect military officers and not their murderers.
“With all that entails,” she added.
Trepova’s supporters say she is being made a scapegoat to cover up the shortcomings of Russia’s secret services. Her lawyer Daniil Berman said Trepova “did not know and could not have known what was in the bust.”
She had remained in the blast zone after handing over the statue and could have been killed, suggesting she did not know it was a bomb. “I thought there was a wiretap in the statue and not a bomb,” she said in court in St. Petersburg.
Valeria Fomina, Tatarski’s widow, alleged that Trepova lied to the victims.
“It is disgusting and abhorrent to brazenly lie to the victims and look them in the eye,” she said. ‘My life without my husband has lost its colours, widows will understand me.’
A view of the scene of a cafe explosion in St. Petersburg, Russia, Sunday
It is exceptionally rare for women in Russia to be sentenced to more than 20 years in prison, with 25 years being the usual upper limit.
However, terrorist crimes can carry longer sentences, as in this case.
The 27-year prison sentence was welcomed by war supporters.
Telegram channel Reverse Side of the Medal said: “The beauty is gone… thanks to the justice system.”