Vladimir Putin personally approved the assassination of Vladlen Tatarsky which was an FSB operation, according to an extraordinary new claim.
He will use the blogger's death as a catalyst for new repressions, alleged Russian Telegram channel General SVR.
The authorities will seek to blame the Ukrainian special services and 26-year-old Daria Trepova who passed a bomb hidden in a statuette to the hardline war reporter and propagandist at a St Petersburg cafe.
Yet it's now been claimed it was in fact an FSB special operation sanctioned by Putin himself.
A handcuffed Trepova was today flown to Moscow under armed guard for further interrogation and evidently to be detained in the capital.
Meanwhile the head of Wagner private army, Putin ally Yevgeny Prigozhin, visited the cafe in St Petersburg where his ally Tatarsky was killed.
The cafe was owned by Prigozhin.
“Putin is pleased both with the investigation into the liquidation of ‘military correspondent’ Vladlen Tatarsky - and with the very fact of the liquidation,” posted the channel which claims insights into the opaque world of the Kremlin.
While Tatarsky notionally supported Putin, he was also a harsh critic of the Kremlin's leading military commanders.
Putin was purportedly informed by his secret services that Tatarsky was an “out of control moron military officer who only harms”, an analysis he accepted despite awarding him a posthumous honour.
His death - blamed on Ukraine - helps Putin to justify “both the [special military operation] and its goals and objectives”.
It came as Putin’s health had “deteriorated”, according to the channel.
“He practically ate nothing [at the weekend] and periodically complained of abdominal pain and oncoming bouts of nausea.
“After taking medication for a while, the symptoms disappeared.
“Putin, despite the fact that he spends time at the residence on weekends, is almost constantly in bunker-type premises, fearing possible air strikes.”
The channel said: “It is important for Putin to show that he did not start the war in vain and that he is fighting terrorists who must be destroyed.
“The liquidation of the military commissar Tatarsky by the ‘Ukrainian special services’ together with opposition sympathisers, the FBK [anti-corruption group], [jailed foe] Alexei Navalny, pacifists, supporters of smart voting, the libertarian party and all other opponents of the regime, helps to justify and launch new, even tougher repressions inside the country.”
It claimed: "The people must unite around the president, who is waging a fierce fight against terrorism.
“The liquidation of Tatarsky is a ‘brilliant’ FSB special operation, according to Putin, which went exactly according to plan.
“The development of the special operation and the choice of the victim were agreed with the president….
“[Putin] congratulated the leadership of the FSB and recommended it to continue in the same spirit.”Vladimir Putin approved assassination of war blogger Tatarsky by FSB while blaming it on Ukraine
