Russian woman sentenced to 27 years over explosion that killed ultranationalist military blogger

(CNN) — A Russian court has sentenced Daria Trepova to 27 years in prison for the murder of pro-Kremlin blogger Vladlen Tatarsky, who was killed in an explosion at a St. Petersburg cafe last year.

Before his death, Tatarsky was one of Russia’s most outspoken and ultranationalist military bloggers, known for his ardent pro-war commentary and occasional criticism of Moscow’s battlefield failures.

He was killed in the April 2023 blast, which came during an event at the cafe.

Trepova was arrested soon after on suspicion she had handed over the explosive device, hidden in a statue, to Tatarsky, state media Tass reported at the time.

Trepova’s husband, Dmitry Rylov, told an independent Russian publication that he is convinced she was set up.

Tatarsky supported the war in Ukraine and had gained popularity by providing analysis and commentary on Telegram, much of which advocated for a harsher approach towards Ukraine.

Tatarsky, whose real name is Maxim Fomin, created his Telegram channel in 2019, naming it in honor of the protagonist of Victor Pelevin’s novel “Generation ‘P,’” according to Russian state news agency Vesti. He had since written several books and previously fought among Russian forces in Donbas, eastern Ukraine, in 2014.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

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CNN’s Rob Picheta, Radina Gigova, and Mariya Knight contributed reporting