A pro-Kremlin military blogger has died in a Russian cafe explosion after a woman presented him with a gold statue.
The explosion in St. Petersburg this afternoon claimed the lives of Vladlen Tatarsky and injured 15 others. Tatarsky had been reporting from the battle lines in Ukraine.
Tatarsky, whose real name was Maxim Fomin, had more than 560,000 followers on Telegram.
Speaking about Russian firepower in the Kremlin last year he had previously said: 'We will defeat everyone, we will kill everyone, we will rob everyone as necessary. Just as we like it.'
There has been no indication who was responsible for the blast.
Russia media reported that Tatarsky was meeting with members of the public and that a woman presented him with a statuette that apparently exploded.
Russia's Interior Ministry said everyone at the cafe at the time of the blast was being 'checked for involvement.'
It comes as Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov told US secretary of state Antony Blinken it was unacceptable for Washington to politicise the case of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who has been detained and accused of spying in Russia.
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Vladlen Tatarsky was said to have been killed in the blast (Picture: REUTERS)
A number of people were injured in the blast (Picture: REUTERS)
A video showed the moment Tatarskiy was presented with the gold-coloured figurine – which appeared to depict the war propagandist.
He held it and gazed at it approvingly, moments before the explosion which killed him.
An eyewitness said: 'Suddenly the explosive wave erupted, smoke was everywhere, and people ran.
'I ran out into the street.
'When I went back to look for my phone, I saw three or four lying on the floor.'
Another said: 'There were about 100 people.
A woman claimed to be an artist and that she wished to depict the unique military operation of Putin's heroes.
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