Mysterious Russian Group Claims Tatarsky Bombing

The so-called National Republican Army (NRA) has claimed responsibility for Sunday's bombing that killed influential Russian military blogger Vladlen Tatarsky at a pro-war event in the heart of St. Petersburg.

Ilya Ponomarev, a former Russian lawmaker and official turned dissident, claims to be the international spokesperson of the NRA. Ponomarev posted what he said was a statement from the NRA's St. Petersburg faction on his Telegram channel Tuesday, which claimed responsibility for the killing of "the well-known warmonger and war propagandist."

The NRA, a secretive organization whose very existence some expert observers doubt, also claimed to be behind the car bombing that killed Darya Dugina in 2022. The group says it is committed to destroying President Vladimir Putin's regime.

"This action was prepared and carried out by us autonomously, and we have no connection and have not received assistance from any foreign structures, let alone special services," the NRA statement said, referring to the bombing that killed Ukrainian-born Tatarsky—real name Maxim Fomin—and wounded dozens of people who were attending the pro-war event in Russia's second city.

"This action was carried out in a club owned by one of the most famous Russian gangsters and criminals, Yevgeny Prigozhin," the statement said. "As a result of the action the club will stop its work. We are satisfied with this.

"The action we carried out was not directed against civilians, and all the victims are among the active supporters of the war, justifying the war crimes of the Putin regime in Ukraine."

Darya Trepova, 26, has been arrested and charged with carrying out the attack. Trepova was filmed at the St. Petersburg event presenting Tatarsky with a bust of himself, reportedly filled with explosives, that later detonated.

Russian investigators have claimed they have evidence that connects Ukrainian intelligence to the attack, as well as the political network of jailed anti-corruption campaigner Alexei Navalny.

Alexei Baranovsky, Ponomarev's deputy at the Kyiv political center of the Russian opposition to the Putin regime, told Newsweek: "We do not know who Darya Trepova is, the contact was not with her.

"But in any case, we respect Trepova as an opposition activist, a fighter for women's rights, and we wish her a speedy release. And we will make every effort to do so."

The NRA statement published by Ponomarev said Russia's security forces "accuse and seize those they can reach, regardless of involvement, as happened with Darya Trepova."

The message described Trepova as "a hero" for her past pro-democratic and feminist activism. The group called on Russian human rights activists to help her and other "innocent people who fall into the clutches of Putin's guardsmen."

"We call on the people of Russia to follow our example and provide all kinds of resistance to the criminal Russian regime up to its complete destruction," the statement said. "Criminals will not feel safe on Russian soil! Russia will be free!"

Newsweek has contacted the Russian Foreign Ministry by email to request comment.

Russia's Shadowy Guerrillas

Little is known about the NRA's strength or structure, and some observers have cast doubt on whether the group is actually a functioning organization.

Alex Kokcharov, a risk analyst specializing in Russia and Ukraine, told Newsweek he was "skeptical" of the NRA claim to have been behind Tatarsky's killing.

"Russian security agencies or paramilitary groups such as Wagner PMC—or others, there are many more such private military companies in Russia as of 2023—are more likely to be behind the attack," he said.

In 2022, following the assassination of Dugina, Ponomarev said he had been authorized to publish the NRA's manifesto. The declaration described the NRA as consisting of Russian activists, military members and politicians who are "now fighters and partisans."

The purported statement declared Putin "a usurper of power and a war criminal who amended the constitution, unleashed a fratricidal war between the Slavic peoples and sent Russian soldiers to certain and senseless death."

It also called officials of the Russian government and regional administrations, as well as security officials, "accomplices of the usurper."

The group's goal, the document said, is to "overthrow" and "destroy Putin." It warned Russian officials they would be "destroyed" if they did not resign.

Ponomarev told Newsweek in October that he is working with other anti-Kremlin guerrilla groups now operating inside Russia.

"There is a group called Black Bridge, there is a group called the Militant Organization of Anarcho-Communists, there are right-wing groups in Russia and we are in contact with many of them," he said.

"It's all grassroots. It's like franchises. There are certain principles and people are coming to them to be part of something, but many people do their attacks just on their own without any coordination," Ponomarev said. "I would say that 50 percent of the attacks in Russia are being done without any coordination."

Asked if more NRA attacks could be expected in the near future, Baranovsky told Newsweek: "We do not control partisan units, they choose their own targets."

"Since these are non-professionals and young people, then, as we understand, they attack those who they can reach first of all," he added. "Ideally, it would be to kill Putin, but [they cannot] reach him. It means they reach whoever they can."

Baranovsky noted the March attack on the FSB building in Rostov-on-Don, which he said was carried out by the Black Bridge partisan group.

"Who they can get to, they beat [them] there," he said.