Roman Popkov, who is accused of organizing the murder of military correspondent Vladlen Tatarsky, was fired from Polish publication Vot so soon after the terror attack in St Petersburg, Russian media has learned. The last publication mentioning the correspondent on the site of the online project is devoted to his comment on the charges of organizing a terrorist attack.
Information about the dismissal of Russian media was confirmed by the deputy head of Belsat (whose project is Vot so) Aleksey Dikovitsky: “Activists who support political parties cannot be journalists at the same time, at least in our country .”
The last post written by Popkov on the Vot Tak website was published on April 3, the day after the terrorist attack in Saint Petersburg. In this document, the correspondent denies any involvement in the organization of the explosion, but admits that he spoke with Daria Trepova (Darya Trepova) accused of the terrorist attack “about journalistic matters”.
“I know Dasha Trepova on social networks, I communicated with her on social networks, she is my follower on Twitter, on the Telegram channel. I am also his subscriber. We communicated with her exclusively on journalistic subjects that interest her. Of course, there was no order to kill Tatarsky, no knowledge of Ukrainian intelligence – none of this happened, ”Popkov writes.
Earlier, Russian media contacted Popkov for a comment on his involvement in the attack. He declined to speak to reporters.
Roman Popkov in 2005 Alexander Miridonov / Kommersant
“Vot so” is a project of the Polish TV channel Belsat focused on Belarus and funded by the Polish government. Belsat was created in 2007 on the basis of an agreement between the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Polish public television TVP.
The political party whose activist, according to Dikovitsky, Popkov is, is the movement of former State Duma deputy Ilya Ponomarev * “Congress of People’s Deputies” **. Ponomarev himself * calls the movement the political wing of the “volunteer” units of the main intelligence department of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine “Legion” Freedom of Russia “” *** and “Russian Volunteer Corps”.
Popkov works for Ponomarev* and runs the Rospartizan channel, where he calls for terrorist acts and partisan struggle in Russia. In the same place, on April 2, a statement was issued by the “National Republican Army”, which was allegedly involved in the terrorist attack in Saint Petersburg. However, there is no evidence of the existence of this organization. Last August, Ponomarev* reported that the NRA was behind the murder of Daria Platnova, the daughter of philosopher Alexander Dugin. No proof of this was provided either.
On June 1, the Investigative Committee named Popkov as the organizer of the murder of military commissar Vladlen Tatarsky. “Popkov corresponded with Daria Trepova (Darya Trepova) on social media and gave her instructions regarding the preparation of a terrorist act,” the IC said in a statement.
The terrorist attack occurred on April 2 in a cafe in St. Petersburg, where Tatarsky’s creative party was taking place. According to investigators, Daria Trepova (Darya Trepova), 26, gave the military commander a statuette filled with explosives.
Trepova was arrested the next day. During her interrogation, she confessed that she was carrying the statuette. The FSB then said that Tatarsky’s murder was organized by Ukrainian special services and their agents, including members of the Russian opposition who are abroad.
*registered in the register of foreign agents of the Ministry of Justice of Russia
** recognized in Russia as an undesirable organization
*** recognized in Russia as an extremist organization, activities are prohibited
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