TWO alleged anti-Putin bombers have been accused of orchestrating a deadly explosion that killed a Russian military blogger.
Darya Tryopova, 26, reportedly handed the TNT-laden statue to Bile-monger Vladlen Tatarsky, 40, that erupted in a St Petersburg cafe.
Cops are still hunting her alleged Ukraine-born accomplice Maria Yarun, 40, although some reports say she is in hospital after the blast.
Tryopova was busted at a rented flat close to the scene on Monday by the FSB and Investigative Committee, according to local media.
As she was led away in handcuffs from the residential complex, she reportedly said: "I was set up. I was just being used."
The first picture of Tryopova after her arrest showed her with cropped blond hair, suggesting she had cut it to disguise herself.
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Surveillance footage captured her heading inside the venue, where Tatarsky was leading a discussion, with a cardboard box.
The suspect, wearing a long coat, strolled past the cafe while clutching the package shortly before the blast that injured 30.
Tryopova, who has previously been detained for taking part in anti-war rallies, is said to have delivered the lethal statue that contained up to 450 grams of TNT.
She allegedly handed the lethal gift to Tatarsky at the event at the venue owned by mercenary warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the brutal Wagner Group.
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Eyewitnesses claim a woman, who called herself an "artist" explained she "wanted to show the heroes of Putin's special military operation".
She retrieved the box from a coat cupboard before telling the pro-Putin blogger: "It’s not easy. That's why I've only made your bust so far."
The alleged bomber then handed it to Tatarsky, who was seen in a clip holding the package approvingly before placing it down.
Tryopova reportedly even joked that security at the cafe had questioned "if it's a bomb" at the entrance, before the Kremlin backer instructed her to bring it over to him.
One attendee claimed the suspect had used the fake name Nastya and had appeared reluctant to sit close to Tatarsky after he invited her to.
Alisa Smotrova told KP.ru: "She came, brought this box and went to the stage. She gave it to him. He said 'sit down here’.
"She says: 'Oh, I'm so shy.' She sat closer to the window, and said: ‘Well, I'm here on the chair’.
"They took out [of the box] the sculpture, it's a golden head in a helmet. Well, I don't even know if it looks like [Tatarsky].
"He put it down there without a second thought and then continued asking questions [to his seminar audience].
“And suddenly an explosion and smoke…"
Just three minutes later, the explosive device detonated at the "Street Bar" café.
The fireball explosion on Sunday afternoon left over 100 people running for their lives and "covered in blood" as the venue erupted.
I could have died there, I'd rather have died there, I was set up.
Tryopova is said to have fled the scene and was reportedly booked on a flight from Pulkovo Airport to Turkey hours later -but never showed up for it.
Her flat was raided by cops and local media said her mother was arrested after the Russian Interior Ministry put her on the wanted list.
Officials are now said to be scouring her conversations in a private web chat, according to Telegram channel VCK-OGPU.
The messages reportedly suggested she had come to St Petersburg from Moscow late last week and intended to fly abroad – to Tbilisi, capital of Georgia, via Istanbul.
The former shop worker had breakfast with her friend on Sunday and sent her a message following the explosion.
Tryopova wrote: "I could have died there, I'd rather have died there, I was set up."
She is then alleged to have changed the settings on her messenger account for the first time in seven years.
Tryopova's boyfriend Dmitry Rylov – also in his 20s and a member of the so-called Russian Liberation Army – insists she has been "set up."
He is also wanted by the secret services and has been detained at anti-war protests with his girlfriend.
Rylov insisted Tryopova must have "completely misunderstood the purpose" of the statue given to Tatarsky.
He said: "I believe that my wife was set up.
"I am in full confidence that she would never be able to do something like that on her own volition.
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"Yes, with Daria we really do not support the war in Ukraine, but we believe that such actions are unacceptable.
"I am 100 percent sure that she would never have agreed to such a thing if she had known."
Police told RBC media that “the explosion was at a height of 60 centimetres from the floor.”
Its capacity was 300 to 450 grams of TNT and it went off "to the right of Tatarsky."
Footage of the aftermath shows glass shattered all over the street and people attending to bleeding victims outside the façade of the collapsed café.
State media said 19 of the 30 caught in the St Petersburg blast were taken to hospital. Eight people remain in a serious condition.
Wagner Group tyrant Yevgeny Prigozhin, was rumoured to be expected at the event, held at his café.
He said of the blast: "I have indeed passed the cafe to a patriotic movement called Cyber Front Z.
"They were doing various seminars there."
He compared Tatarsky's death to that of Darya Dugin, the daughter of Putin's "spiritual mastermind" Alexander Dugin, who was killed in a deadly car bomb last year.
Several hours before the explosion, Tatarsky had praised advertising hoardings in Moscow seeking recruits for Wagner fighters.
“It's nice to see such outdoor advertising,” he said.
Some Russian outlets immediately blamed Ukraine for the blast, but it is unclear for now if this was the case.
Kremlin mouthpiece and political scientist Sergei Markov said: “Almost 100 per cent this terrorist attack was organised in Kyiv…Like the terrorist attack against Darya Dugina.”
The purpose was "to intimidate everyone who supports the armed liberation of Ukraine from the neo-Nazi terrorist regime”.
He fumed: “Zelensky is personally responsible for this attack, being the public leader of the terrorist regime.”
Pro-Putin speaker of the Russian senate, Valentina Matviyenko, said: "Vladlen wrote the truth, he wrote simply, brightly.
"As a result he became a target for our enemies, who are afraid of the strength of our spirit, our people's will.
"And Vladlen not only fought in the militia, collected help for our soldiers, but, most importantly, he formed the people's understanding of the special operation.
"And I'm sure he did a lot for our future victory."
Head of the RT propaganda machine Margarita Simonyan said: "Well, what? Will we forget? Forgive?"
Tatarsky, whose real name is Maxim Fomin, is one of Russia's foremost military bloggers and has over 560,000 followers on Telegram.
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He provided a critical running commentary on Russia's war in Ukraine and had once been a fighter in the battles in eastern Ukraine in 2014.
Along with other Putin pundits, he criticised the Russian army for failing to fight even more brutally and ruthlessly.
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