Bomb hidden inside decorative figurine kills pro-Kremlin military blogger in Russia

April 3, 2023 by 3 Comments

Vladlen Tatarsky Maxim FominA POWERFUL EXPLOSION, LIKELY caused by a bomb hidden inside a decorative figurine, has killed one of the most prominent pro-Kremlin bloggers as he was giving a public talk in downtown St. Petersburgh, Russia. The bomb killed Maxim Fomin, 40, who was known in online blogger circles under the pseudonym Vladlen Tatarsky. Born in eastern Ukraine, Fomin supported the pro-Russian secessionist movement in the Donbas. By 2021, when he obtained Russian citizenship, he had already made a name for himself as a pro-Kremlin military blogger on the Telegram social media platform.

In 2022, when the Russian military invaded Ukraine again, Fomin used his Telegram channel to spread pro-Kremlin information among his nearly 600,000 followers. He quickly rose to prominence as a commentator on military matters on Russian state-owned television. He also authored several books espousing Russian nationalist views. Fomin’s online activism came to embody a new generation of Russian bloggers who use their reach among Russian Internet users to aggressively promote pro-Kremlin political views.

On Sunday afternoon, Fomin was the main speaker at a pro-Kremlin event held in a St. Petersburg meeting hall, which is known as the Street Food Bar #1 Café. The downtown establishment used to belong to Yevgeny Prigozhin, one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s closest collaborators. Prigozhin is the alleged owner of the Wagner Group private military company. In 2019, Prigozhin is believed to have donated the property to a group of pro-Kremlin activists, who have since been using it to host nationalist meetings in downtown St. Petersburg.

On Sunday afternoon, Fomin was the main speaker at an event held in the Street Food Bar #1 Café. The event had been organized by Cyber Front Z, an umbrella group of Russian nationalist bloggers, who refer to themselves on Telegram as a pro-Kremlin cyber army. At least 100 people were present at the event, according to reports. Shortly before the event began, an unknown woman tried to enter the facility carrying a large box. She told the event organizers at the entrance that the box contained a figurine, which she intended to present to Fomin as a gift. Read more of this post

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China ‘hacked European government computers’ prior to G20 summit

December 13, 2013 by Leave a comment

G20 Summit participantsBy IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org
A group of hackers from China managed to compromise computer networks belonging to the foreign ministries of several European governments prior to last September’s G20 Summit, according to a private computer security firm. The Summit, which took place in St. Petersburg, Russia, on September 5 and 6 of this year, brought together the heads of state of 20 major economies, including the United States and many European Union countries. The meeting agenda was dominated by discussions concerning the response of the international community to the chemical attacks in Ghouta, Syria. According to the Reuters news agency, the hackers managed to infiltrate carefully targeted computer networks by sending emails containing infected attachments to employees of foreign ministries. The attached files bore titles such as “US_military_options_in_Syria”, which appeared designed to bear reference to the upcoming G20 Summit. The hacking revelations were made by FireEye, Inc., a California-based security firm, which says it has proof the hackers came from China. The firm says its confidence on the matters stems from “a variety of technical evidence”, such as the language used on the control server used by the hackers, as well as the types of machines that were used to test the virus before it was deployed. FireEye said its experts were able to keep tabs on the “inner workings” of the primary computer server that the hackers used to monitor the compromised computer networks. However, shortly before the Summit begun, the hackers migrated to another server, at which point the FireEye team lost contact with them. Read more of this post

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Files reveal previously unknown UK-Soviet diplomatic scuffle

January 5, 2010 by Leave a comment

Aubone Pyke

Aubone Pyke

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
A previously unknown fracas between two British diplomatic officials, their wives, and a team of Soviet intelligence agents, has been revealed in declassified British government reports. The documents, which were released last weekend, show that two employees of the British embassy in Moscow were detained, along with their wives, allegedly for photographing a Soviet military installation. The British diplomats were Lieutenant-Commanders Ian Clapham and Aubone Pyke, who was the embassy’s assistant military attaché. Escorted by their wives, the two officials were allegedly taking a tour of Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), in February of 1979, when a group of “about 25” Soviet intelligence agents rapidly approached them. The agents proceeded to confiscate a cameral belonging to Pyke, after rapidly pulling down his trousers, an old trick aimed to prevent a suspect from running away. Read more of this post

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