Russian Pro-War Figures Call for Revenge After Killing of Military Blogger

The assassination of leading Russian military blogger Vladlen Tatarsky has ignited calls for revenge and intensified attacks on Ukraine from pro-war figures.

Tatarsky, a vocal Ukraine war supporter whose real name was Maxim Fomin, was killed Sunday in an explosion during an event at a cafe in Russia's second-largest city of St. Petersburg.

Famous for his words “we'll defeat everyone, we'll kill everyone, we'll rob everyone we need to,” which he said at a Kremlin ceremony in September when President Vladimir announced the annexation of four Ukrainian regions, Tatarsky had an audience of more than 500,000 people on Telegram.

“No one is going to be afraid,” pro-war blogger Ivan Kondakov told The Moscow Times when asked how war correspondents would react to the incident.

“It’s a challenge from Ukraine and the West,” Kondakov, who runs the Arbalet Z Govorit Telegram channel with 48,000 subscribers, said.

After months of grinding warfare in eastern Ukraine with little movement by either side, Tatarsky’s killing could be used as an excuse for Russia to escalate its offensive — and to crack down harder on the anti-war movement at home, analysts say.

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2023/04/03/russian-pro-war-figures-call-for-revenge-after-killing-of-military-blogger-a80695