Explosion in Russian cafe kills military blogger

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) — An explosion tore through a cafe Sunday in the Russian city of St. Petersburg, and preliminary reports suggested a prominent military blogger was killed and more than a dozen people were injured.

Russian news reports said blogger Vladlen Tatarsky was killed and 16 people were hurt in the explosion at the Street Food Bar No. 1 cafe in Russia’s second-largest city. The reports did not mention any claim of responsibility or provide details beyond saying that a cafe visitor carried an “explosive device.”

Russia’s Interior Ministry said everyone at the cafe at the time of the blast was being “checked for involvement.”

Russia media and military bloggers said Tatarsky was meeting with members of the public and that a woman presented him with a box containing a statuette that apparently exploded.

Since the fighting in Ukraine began on Feb. 24, 2022, various fires and explosions have occurred in Russia without any clear connection to the conflict.

Russia’s Tass news agency said Tatarsky, using various pseudonyms, had been filing text and video reports from Ukraine as well as from the Kremlin.