Russia suspects opposition and Ukraine behind attack

Kyiv Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin has posthumously awarded a medal to the Russian military blogger who was killed in a bomb attack in St. Petersburg. According to a decree published by President Putin on Monday, blogger Maxim Fomin, known by the pseudonym Vladlen Tatarski, will be awarded the Order of Bravery for the courage and boldness he has shown in the performance of his professional duties.

The far-right blogger was killed in a bomb explosion at a café in downtown St. Petersburg on Sunday, and more than 30 people were injured. The authorities have now upgraded the original charge of an assassination to terrorism and arrested a suspect. According to media reports, the young woman was transferred to Moscow.

According to the Russian leadership, Ukrainian forces and the liberal opposition in Russia led by the imprisoned Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny are responsible for the attack. However, they deny their partnership – and rather see inner-Russian power struggles behind the assassination. The information cannot be verified at this time.

Russian parliament wants to further tighten legislation

According to official information, the Russian parliament, the State Duma, is planning further tightening of the law against the background of the attack. “In the near future we will propose changes that will tighten the penalties for terrorism,” Vasily Piskarev, head of the parliamentary security committee, wrote on his Telegram channel on Monday.

The changes not only affect terrorist attacks themselves, but also aid and terrorism propaganda, announced the influential deputy of the Kremlin party United Russia. This is necessary to protect Russia from the growing threat from Ukraine, Piskarev claimed. No one who carries out, plans or even justifies an attack may avoid “the severest penalties”.

Both the Ukrainian leadership and the accused camp of the imprisoned Kremlin critic Navalny reject the allegations and spoke of a false flag action in which the perpetrators intentionally laid the wrong tracks. In addition to power struggles, the creation of an alibi to justify further repression against government critics was mentioned as a possible motive.

After launching its war of aggression against Ukraine, the Kremlin has tightened numerous laws to quell opposition to its policies.

Zelensky speaks of a difficult journey and the reconstruction of Ukraine

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky did not comment on the allegations from Moscow. Instead, after a trip to northern Ukraine, he promised to rebuild the country devastated by the Russian attack. “Ukraine will never be a land of ruins, no matter how much the Kremlin dreams of it,” Zelensky said Monday night in his daily video address.

During his visit to the Chernihiv region, the Ukrainian President was accompanied by Germany’s Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck. According to Zelensky, the old town of Chernihiv should be given UNESCO World Heritage status.

Selenski also reported on a visit to the village of Jahidne, where a year ago Russian occupiers crammed 300 residents into the basement of a school that had been converted into a command post as a “living shield”. For weeks, people, including the elderly and children, had to endure in the confinement.

It was “one of the most emotionally difficult trips” for him, said Selenski. Those responsible would certainly be punished for war crimes. “The Kremlin will not be able to coincide with its seat on the UN Security Council, nor with its gas pipelines or anything,” he said.

Ukraine: Have interceptors for five air brigades

Meanwhile, military aircraft from the West are supposed to contribute to Ukraine’s victory. The military described the handover of Soviet MiG-29 fighter jets from Poland as a historic step. “We now have five brigades of interceptors: two Su-27 brigades and three MiG-29 brigades,” Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Yuriy Ihnat said on Ukrainian television on Monday.

Nevertheless, Kiev needs Western-type aircraft because the MiG jets are outdated. According to Ihnat, Russia could deploy at least five times the Ukrainian number of aircraft around Ukraine.

Before Poland, Slovakia had also delivered several MiGs to the neighboring country. The governments in Bratislava and Warsaw promised Ukraine more than a dozen MiG-29s.

This is how the Handelsblatt reports on the Ukraine war:

What does the day bring?

Russia’s neighbor Finland will officially join NATO on Tuesday. This is a consequence of the Russian war of aggression, which Moscow justified, among other things, with security concerns about Ukraine’s allegedly threatening NATO membership.

Meanwhile, Kremlin chief Putin is visiting a railway plant in the city of Tula south of Moscow and is chairing a government meeting on the development of Russian industry. Tula is considered a center of the Russian armaments industry. The Kremlin has repeatedly rejected speculation about a reorientation of the Russian economy towards a war economy.

More: Current news on the development of the Ukraine war can be found in our news blog