Well-known Russian military blogger Vladlen Tatarsky was killed after an explosion tore through a St Petersburg cafe he was in on Sunday.
Russian officials said Tatarsky, who was a strident supporter of the war in Ukraine, was killed as he was leading a discussion at the cafe on the bank of the Neva River in the historic heart of Russia’s second-largest city.
Reports claimed the 40-year-old blogger was meeting with members of the public when a woman presented him with a box containing a bust of him that blew up.
Born in the Donbas, Ukraine’s industrial heartland, Tatarsky, whose real name was Max Fomin, began his working life as a coal miner before starting a furniture business.
But when he experienced financial difficulties, he decided to rob a bank and was sentenced to prison.
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He fled from custody after a Russia-backed separatist rebellion engulfed the Donbas in 2014, weeks after Moscow annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula.
Tatarsky then joined separatist rebels and fought on the frontline before becoming a blogger – and soon became known for his blustery pronouncements and ardent pro-war rhetoric.
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He was known for his hardline views, criticising Russian military commanders as well as Russian President Vladimir Putin for being too soft in their approach.
One of his most controversial statements was his support for attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure, which he believed would result in more Ukrainian casualties, while he regularly referred to Ukraine as a “terrorist state” and advocated for its defeat.
Following the Kremlin’s annexation of four regions of Ukraine last year that many countries deemed illegal, Tatarsky posted a video where he vowed: “That’s it. We’ll defeat everybody, kill everybody, rob everybody we need to. It will all be the way we like it. God be with you.”
His online presence became well known as military bloggers have played an increasingly prominent and influential role in the circulation of information about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Tatarsky boasted more than 560,000 followers on Telegram. He was one of the most prominent military bloggers who championed Russia’s war effort in Ukraine, while often criticising Russian military strategy and tactical decisions.
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Who killed Vladlen Tatarsky?
Tatarsky ‘won hatred’ of Kyiv
Tatarsky was sanctioned by Ukraine due to his extremist views andinvolvement in the conflict, and was banned from entering the country for 10 years.
Any assets belonging to him that were found in Ukraine were also confiscated.
But Tatarsky continued to promote his views and beliefs through his blog and social media channels despite these sanctions.
Reacting to Tatarsky’s death, Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said his activities “won him the hatred of the Kyiv regime”.
She noted that he and other Russian military bloggers long have faced Ukrainian threats.
Many have compared the bombing to the killing of Darya Dugina, a nationalist TV commentator who was killed when her SUV blew up as she drove on the outskirts of Moscow last August.
While Russian authorities blamed Ukraine’s military intelligence for Ms Dugina’s death, Kyiv denied any involvement.
Ms Dugina’s father, Alexander Dugin, a nationalist philosopher and political theorist who is a strong supporter of the invasion of Ukraine, hailed Tatarsky as an “immortal” hero who died to save the Russian people.
“There must be no talks with the terrorists other than about their unconditional surrender,” Mr Dugin said. “A victory parade must take place in Kyiv.”
Known for ‘extremely radical statements’
Christo Grozev, from the renowned investigative reporting website Bellingcat said the Russian blogger was known for some “extremely radical statements”.
These included disparaging the official Russian military forces and praising the Wagner Group mercenaries.
Mr Grozev added it is important to remember that Tatarsky was a soldier who participated in the 2014 invasion of Ukraine, not just a blogger.
Discussing the blast, Mr Grozev told Sky News: “At this point nothing is certain. It could well be that this was a Ukrainian operation.
“It might also be an operation of Russian security services as a false flag operation to consolidate the pro-war sentiments in Russia.”
The murder trial of a former senior politician in Kazakhstan who has been accused of beating his wife to death has attracted the attention of the nation, sparking calls for new legislation tackling domestic violence.
Shocking footage showing businessman Kuandyk Bishimbayev, Kazakhstan’sformer economy minister, beating his wife at a family restaurant has been streamed online from the court.
The case has touched a nerve among the public as tens of thousands of people have signed petitions calling for new laws to hold those guilty of abuse to account.
Why is the case so high profile?
The trial of Bishimbayev, 44, is the first in the country to ever be streamed online – making it readily accessible to the 19 million people in Kazakhstan.
The former politician was already well known, having been jailed for bribery in 2018. He spent less than two years of his 10-year sentence in prison before he was pardoned.
Bishimbayev was charged with torturing and killing his wife after her death last November. For weeks, he maintained his innocence but admitted last month in court that he had beaten her and “unintentionally” caused her death.
Saltanat Nukenova, 31, was found dead in November in a restaurant owned by one of her husband’s relatives.
Disturbing CCTV footage shows the defendant, a father of four, dragging his wife by her hair, and then punching and kicking her.
Hours after it was recorded, she died of brain trauma.
Bishimbayev’s lawyers initially disputed medical evidence indicating Ms Nukenova died from repeated blows to the head.
They also portrayed her as prone to jealousy and violence, although no video from the restaurant’s security cameras that was played in court has shown her attacking Bishimbayev.
According to a 2018 study backed by UN Women, about 400 women die as a result of domestic violence in Kazakhstan every year, although many go unreported.
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Tens of thousands of people in the country have signed a petition calling for harsher measures against perpetrators of domestic violence in the wake of Ms Nukenova’s tragic death.
The signatures resulted in senators approving a bill which toughens spousal abuse laws last month – dubbed “Saltanat’s Law”.
Aitbek Amangeldy, Ms Nukenova’s brother and a key prosecution witness, told the Associated Press he had no doubt his sister’s tragic fate has shifted attitudes about domestic violence.
“It changes people’s minds when they see directly what it looks like when a person is tortured.”
Police in riot gear have raided Columbia University and arrested pro-Palestinian protesters occupying one of its buildings.
Around 30 to 40 people have been removed from the Manhattan university’s Hamilton Hall, according to police.
The raid came hours after New York City Mayor Eric Adams said the demonstration at the Ivy League school “must end now”.
He also claimed the demonstration had been infiltrated by “professional outside agitators”.
University bosses said they called in the New York Police Department (NYPD) after protesters “chose to escalate the situation through their actions”.
“After the university learned overnight that Hamilton Hall had been occupied, vandalised, and blockaded, we were left with no choice,” a university spokesman said in a statement.
“The decision to reach out to the NYPD was in response to the actions of the protesters, not the cause they are championing.
“We have made it clear that the life of campus cannot be endlessly interrupted by protesters who violate the rules and the law.”
The protest began when students barricaded the entrance of Hamilton Hall at Columbia’s campus on Tuesday and unfurled a Palestinian flag out of a window.
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Video footage showed protesters locking arms in front of the hall and carrying furniture and metal barricades to the building.
Those behind the protest said they had renamed the building “Hind’s Hall” in honour of Hind Rajab, a six-year-old girl killed in a strike on Gaza in February.
Demonstrators said they had planned to remain at the hall until the university conceded to the Columbia University Apartheid Divest’s (CUAD) three demands: divestment, financial transparency and amnesty.
“Columbia will be proud of these students in five years,” said Sweda Polat, one of the student negotiators for CUAD.
She said students did not pose a danger and called on police to back down.
Officers raided the campus on Tuesday night after university bosses wrote to New York City officials and the NYPD formally asking for assistance.
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A large group of officers dressed in riot gear entered the campus late on Tuesday evening. Officers were also seen entering the window of a university building via a police-branded ladder vehicle, nicknamed “the bear”.
Earlier, Mayor Adams urged demonstrators to leave the site. “Walk away from this situation now and continue your advocacy through other means,” he said.
Columbia University also threatened academic expulsions for students involved in the demonstration.
Protests at Columbia earlier this month kicked off demonstrations which have spread to university campuses from California to Massachusetts.
Dozens of people were arrested on Monday during protests at universities in Texas, Utah, Virginia, and New Jersey.
Police moved to clear an encampment at Yale University in Connecticut on Tuesday morning, but there were no immediate reports of arrests.
Meanwhile, the president of the University of South California issued a statement on Tuesday after a swastika was drawn on the campus.
“I condemn any antisemitic symbols or any form of hate speech against anyone,” Carol Folt said.
“Clearly it was drawn there just to incite even more anger at a time that is so painful for our community. We’re going to work to get to the bottom of this immediately, and it has just been removed.”
Earlier, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said President Joe Biden believed students occupying buildings was “absolutely the wrong approach” and “not an example of peaceful protest”.
Police in Georgia’s capital have used water cannon, tear gas and stun grenades against crowds outside the country’s parliament protesting against a bill the opposition says aims to crack down on press freedoms.
The legislation being debated by parliamentarians will require media and non-commercial organisations to register as being under foreign influence if they receive more than 20% of their funding from abroad.
Thousands of demonstrators gathered in the streets of Tbilisi on Tuesday to oppose the legislation.
Clashes erupted between security forces and protesters as they faced tear gas, water cannon and stun grenades.
Reuters eyewitnesses saw some police officers physically attack protesters, who threw eggs and bottles at them, before deploying the tactics to force crowds from outside the parliament building, the news agency reported.
After being dispersed, thousands continued to block Tbilisi’s main Rustaveli Avenue, barricading it with cafe tables and rubbish bins. Some shouted “slaves” and “Russians” at police.
Levan Khabeishvili, the leader of Georgia‘s largest opposition party, the United National Movement, posted an image on X with his face bloodied and sporting a black eye.
A party official told Reuters that Mr Khabeishvili was beaten by police after disappearing from central Tbilisi.
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Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili, who is opposed to the bill and whose powers are mostly ceremonial, said in a post on X the crackdown had been “totally unwarranted, unprovoked and out of proportion” and that the protests had been peaceful.
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The bill has heightened political divisions, setting the ruling Georgian Dream party against a protest movement backed by opposition groups, communities, celebrities and the figurehead president.
It is viewed by the opposition as authoritarian and bearing a resemblance to Russian anti-independent media legislation.
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Politicians brawl in parliament
Critics have labelled the divisive bill “the Russian law”, comparing it to Moscow’s “foreign agent” legislation which has been used to crack down on dissent there.