HARSH GRILLING
Moment ‘assassin’ who killed Putin blogger Vladlen Tatarsky with ‘bomb statue’ is interrogated while chained to radiator
THE alleged assassin responsible for blowing up a Russian propagandist was captured being interrogated while chained to a radiator.
Daria Trepova, 26, has been accused of handing over the TNT-laden statue that killed Vladlen Tatarsky, 40, in St Petersburg on Sunday.
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Chilling pictures have emerged of the female suspect sitting on the floor while bound to a radiator.
Russian interrogators have demanded she answer questions about her role in the violent killing.
The explosive blast on Sunday night tore right through the café where the bile-monger Tatarsky was holding an event for 100 people.
He was killed instantly and 30 others were injured before running from the blown-out café covered in blood.
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The military blogger was mysteriously presented with a gold-coloured figurine of himself by a woman moments before the explosion.
CCTV caught the same woman strolling past the café with a mysterious box in hand.
She then enters the event at a venue owned by mercenary warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the brutal Wagner Group.
The woman, believed to be Daria Trepova from St Petersburg, has previously been detained for taking part in anti-war rallies.
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She was arrested on Monday at a flat close to the scene.
As she was led away in handcuffs from the residential complex, she reportedly said: "I was set up. I was just being used."
Russia has since released a supposed confession video with the now-cropped blonde admitting to the plot.
The investigators ask why she was detained and she replied: "I'd put it this way, for being at the assassination side of Vladlen Tatarsky.
"I brought there the statuette that exploded."
Pressed to reveal who gave her the devastating explosive, she replied: "Can I tell you later?"
Cops are still hunting for her alleged Ukrainian-born accomplice Maria Yarun, 40, although some reports say she is in hospital after the blast.
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Trepova's boyfriend Dmitry Rylov - also in his 20s and a member of the so-called Russian Liberation Army - said she was "set up."
He is also wanted by the secret services and has been detained at anti-war protests with his girlfriend.
Rylov insisted Trepova must have "completely misunderstood the purpose" of the statue given to Tatarsky.
He said: "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."
He continued: "Yes, with Daria we really do not support the war in Ukraine, but we believe that such actions are unacceptable.
"I am 100 percent sure that she would never have agreed to such a thing if she had known."
During the event, eyewitnesses report seeing the woman handing the lethal gift to Tatarsky.
She allegedly called herself an "artist" and explained she "wanted to show the heroes of Putin's special military operation".
She is understood to have retrieved the box from a coat cupboard before telling the pro-Putin blogger: "It’s not easy. That's why I've only made your bust so far."
Footage from the event confirms that a woman believed to be Tatarsky then holds the package approvingly and places the statue filled with around 400g of TNT next to him just seconds before it would end his life.
Trepova is said to have fled the scene and was reportedly booked on a flight from Pulkovo Airport to Turkey hours later - but never showed up for it.
Her flat was raided by cops and local media said her mother was arrested after the Russian Interior Ministry put her on the wanted list.
Officials are now said to be scouring her conversations in a private web chat, according to Telegram channel VCK-OGPU.
The messages reportedly suggested she had come to St Petersburg from Moscow late last week and intended to fly abroad - to Tbilisi, capital of Georgia, via Istanbul.
The former shop worker had breakfast with her friend on Sunday and sent her a message following the explosion.
Trepova wrote: "I could have died there, I'd rather have died there, I was set up."
RUSSIA'S FURY
Footage of the aftermath shows glass shattered all over the street and people attending to bleeding victims outside the façade of the collapsed café.
The city of St Petersburg is said to be reeling in shock from the attack on a busy street in Russia's second city.
State media said 19 of the 30 people caught up in the blast were taken to hospital. Eight people remain in a serious condition.
Wagner Group tyrant Yevgeny Prigozhin, was rumoured to be expected at the event, held at his café.
He said of the blast: "I have indeed passed the cafe to a patriotic movement called Cyber Front Z.
"They were doing various seminars there."
He compared Tatarsky's death to that of Darya Dugin, the daughter of Putin's "spiritual mastermind" Alexander Dugin, who was killed in a deadly car bomb last year.
Several hours before the explosion, Tatarsky had praised advertising hoardings in Moscow seeking recruits for Wagner fighters.
“It's nice to see such outdoor advertising,” he said.
Some Russian outlets immediately blamed Ukraine for the blast, but it is unclear if this was the case.
Kremlin mouthpiece and political scientist Sergei Markov said: “Almost 100 per cent this terrorist attack was organised in Kyiv... Like the terrorist attack against Darya Dugina.”
He claimed the purpose was "to intimidate everyone who supports the armed liberation of Ukraine from the neo-Nazi terrorist regime”.
Markov fumed: “Zelensky is personally responsible for this attack, being the public leader of the terrorist regime.”
Pro-Putin speaker of the Russian senate, Valentina Matviyenko, said: "Vladlen wrote the truth, he wrote simply, brightly.
"As a result he became a target for our enemies, who are afraid of the strength of our spirit, our people's will.
"And Vladlen not only fought in the militia, collected help for our soldiers, but, most importantly, he formed the people's understanding of the special operation.
"And I'm sure he did a lot for our future victory."
Head of the RT propaganda machine Margarita Simonyan said: "Well, what? Will we forget? Forgive?"
Tatarsky, whose real name is Maxim Fomin, is one of Russia's foremost military bloggers and has over 560,000 followers on Telegram.
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He provided a critical running commentary on Russia's war in Ukraine and was once a fighter in battles in eastern Ukraine in 2014.
Along with other Putin pundits, he criticised the Russian army for failing to fight even more brutally and ruthlessly.
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