26-year-old suspect detained in a cafe explosion that killed a Russian blogger

New Delhi: Russian authorities and media said that they had arrested a suspect and concluded that Ukraine worked with backers of a jailed opposition leader to kill blogger Vladlen Tatarsky, one of the country's most prominent military bloggers.

Vladlen Tatarsky, a supporter of the war that helped shape the Kremlin's anti-Ukrainian narrative, was killed in an explosion Sunday night as he held an event at a cafe in the centre of St. Petersburg. 30 others were injured in the blast.

Tatarsky had more than 500,000 followers on Telegram, where he and other military bloggers criticized aspects of the Russian campaign in Ukraine.

In a statement early Monday, the Russian Investigative Committee said it had arrested a woman named Daria Trepova, 26, in connection with Tatarsky's death.

A release from the committee did not share any evidence linking Trepova to the incident, or any details about who she is, with the spokesman only saying that investigators were working with her to establish a motive.

Shortly after, Russia's National Anti-Terrorism Committee said that Ukraine's security services were behind the blast. It also accused "agents" working with jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny's anti-corruption organization of being involved.

The arrest comes after Russian state media reported Sunday that a young woman allegedly handed Tatarsky a bust of himself containing explosives shortly before the blast.

In a video shared by Russia's Interior Ministry, a woman identified as Trepova is interrogated by an unknown man behind the camera. "I brought a figurine that exploded" to the scene, she says. Asked who gave her the figurine, she sighs and questions to share those details later before the video cuts off.

Tatarsky's death dominated the headlines in Russia, highlighting the prominence and near-celebrity status of military bloggers in a country where it is difficult to get first-hand reports.

BBC said there are conflicting reports in Russian media about the explosive device. According to official sources quoted by Russian state media, Tatarsky was presented with a statue in a box as a gift with a bomb hidden inside. Video circulating on Telegram after the blast showed him being handed a statue and making jokes about it.

Last August, a car bomb attack near Moscow killed Darya Dugina, a journalist and prominent supporter of the Russian military. She was the daughter of ultra-nationalist philosopher Alexander Dugin, a close ally of Mr Putin.