Vyacheslav Volodin, an ally of President Vladimir Putin, said that the killing of prominent war blogger Vladlen Tatarsky in St Petersburg over the weekend was a “terrorist act” committed by Kyiv.

“The support of Washington and Brussels for the Kyiv authorities has led to the creation of a terrorist state in the centre of Europe,” Volodin said on the Telegram messaging app.

“The blood of the dead and wounded is on the hands of (US President Joe) Biden, (President Emmanuel) Macron, (German Chancellor Olaf) Scholz and other heads of state who support the Zelenskiy regime.”)