Hundreds of Russians attend funeral of slain blogger

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Several hundred people attended the funeral of the well-known military blogger Maxim Fomin († 40) in Moscow on Saturday. As local AFP journalists noted, numerous attendees at the funeral at the Troyekurovskoye cemetery west of the capital wore clothing with the letter Z or V, which have become symbols of support for the military offensive in Ukraine. Among the mourners was the head of the Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin (61).

Fomin, who wrote under the name Vladlen Tatarsky, was killed last Sunday in a bomb attack at a café in St. Petersburg.

Strict controls at funeral services

Numerous police officers were deployed to secure the funeral service and visitors to the cemetery were closely monitored. Wagner boss Prigozhin was quoted by the Russian news agency Ria Novosti: “Vladlen Tatarsky will stay with us, his voice will continue to be heard.”

As one of Russia’s most popular pro-government military bloggers, Fomin had more than 500,000 subscribers to the Telegram online service. Born in Donbass in eastern Ukraine, Fomin already joined pro-Russian separatists in 2014.

The influence of military bloggers in Russia has increased since the February 2022 offensive in Ukraine. The bloggers report, among other things, on the side of the army from Ukraine and sometimes also criticize Russia’s military strategy.

After the deadly attack on Fomin in St. Petersburg, in which 30 other people were injured, Russian authorities arrested Darya T.* (26), who allegedly handed the blogger a statue containing an explosive device. So far, however, the woman has denied knowing anything about the explosives and is not providing any information about possible backers.

Moscow has accused Ukraine and “agents” of imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny, 46, of being involved in the attack. Pro-Ukrainian Russian fighters had spoken of an action by a Russian resistance group without providing any evidence. Kiev, on the other hand, described the attack as an internal reckoning among supporters of the Ukrainian offensive. (AFP)

* Name known

Source: Blick