Publicist and former leader of the Moscow branch of the National Bolshevik Party, Roman Popkov, who Russian authorities believe was involved in the murder of military correspondent Vladlen Tatarsky, was fired from the Polish publication Vot Tak shortly after the terrorist attack in St. Petersburg. RTVI writes about this with reference to the manual Belsat.
“Activists who support political parties cannot be journalists at the same time, at least in our country,” Aleksey Dikovitsky, deputy head of Belsat, said in a conversation with RTVI. According to him, the political party to which Popkov is involved is the movement of the former State Duma deputy Ilya Ponomarev «Congress of People's Deputies.» On April 28, the movement was recognized as an «undesirable» organization in Russia.
Popkov himself said that cooperation with him was “suspended until the circumstances were clarified” in April, after publications about his involvement in the terrorist attack appeared in pro-Kremlin telegram channels. “Well, then these gentlemen were at an impasse. What is «clarification of circumstances»? What circumstances do you want to «find out» in the terrorist state «Russian Federation», where there is neither a law enforcement system nor a court? In a state that is illegitimate in everything, from the foundation to the roof? In general, the issue had to be closed somehow, so they came up with a lie about my participation in some congresses,” the journalist writes.
The last mention of Popkov on the Vot so site is dated April 3 — in the publication he denies his involvement in the terrorist attack in St. Petersburg, but admits that he talked with Daria Trepova «on journalistic matters.» “I know Dasha Trepova on social networks, I communicated with her on social networks, she is my subscriber on Twitter, on the Telegram channel. I am also her subscriber. We communicated with her exclusively about journalistic matters that interest her. Of course, there were no orders to kill Tatarsky, no acquaintances with Ukrainian intelligence — none of this happened, ”Popkov wrote at the time.
On June 1, the Russian Interior Ministry put Popkov on the federal wanted list in connection with the murder of Tatarsky. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the publicist is wanted «under the article of the Criminal Code.» The Investigative Committee clarified that Popkov was charged in absentia with directing the commission of a terrorist act (Part 4 of Article 205.1 of the Criminal Code). On May 23, Rosfinmonitoring entered him into the register of extremists and terrorists.
Supporters of «Navalny's ideology» and Ukrainian saboteurs. Whom the FSB calls involved in the murder of Z-blogger Vladlen Tatarsky
Popkov was a member of the NBP in the 2000s. In 2008, he was sentenced to two years and three months in prison because of a fight with activists of the pro-Kremlin movement «Lost» who attacked the National Bolsheviks. Later, he worked for Open Russia, MBKh Media, and Vot so. Since 2022, he began to participate in the broadcasts and events of ex-State Duma deputy Ilya Ponomarev living in Ukraine.
The day after the death of Tatarsky during the explosion in the St. involved in the murder. According to the Telegram channels with links to anonymous sources, the publicist “processed” Daria Trepova, who eventually handed Tatarsky a figurine with explosives. Popkov himself previously reported that at the moment he “specializes in covering the war and the partisan movement” and runs the telegram channels “Rospartizan” and “The Day After Tomorrow”.
Updated at 18:40. Added comment by Roman Popkov about his dismissal.