Zakhar Prilepin: A Russian pro-war blogger was hit by a car bomb

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May 6, 2023, at 13:33 GMT

Updated 1 hour ago

photo caption,

Prileben’s car exploded on a far road

A prominent Russian pro-war writer and blogger has been injured in a car bomb, officials said.

Zakhar Prilepin, a staunch supporter of the Ukraine war, was reportedly conscious after the attack in the Nizhny Novgorod region, but his driver was killed.

The Interior Ministry said one suspect had been arrested.

It comes a month after another pro-Kremlin blogger, Vladlen Tatarsky, was killed in a bombing in a St Petersburg cafe.

Less than two hours after Saturday’s attack was reported, the Interior Ministry said a suspect with previous convictions was arrested near a forest in the Nizhny Novgorod region.

“The search for potential partners continues,” the statement said.

Nizhny Novgorod Governor Gleb Nikitin said: “Law enforcement officers are now investigating the circumstances and causes of the accident. Zakhar is fine.”

The blast reportedly took place on a remote road 80 kilometers (50 miles) from the town of Bor. State media said the blogger suffered a concussion and broken bones.

The H group, made up of Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars, claimed responsibility for the attack.

“We had a feeling it was going to be blown sooner or later,” they wrote on Telegram. “He wasn’t driving alone, but he was driving with a surprise on the underside of the car.”

The BBC cannot verify Atish’s allegations.

In addition to being one of Russia’s best known novelists, Prilepin is known for his involvement in Russian ultranationalist politics.

The 47-year-old, a veteran of Russia’s bloody wars in Chechnya in the 1990s, admitted to fighting on the side of pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.

photo caption,

Prilepin rose to literary fame in the 2000s

He called for “the return of Kiev to Russia.” Last year, a group founded by Brilbin called on officials to “cleanse the cultural space” of anyone who opposes the conflict.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on the alleged bombing until the investigation was completed.

But Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova sought to blame the attack on the United Kingdom and the United States.

“The truth has been set,” she wrote on Telegram: “Washington and NATO have nurtured yet another international terrorist cell – the Kiev regime.” “Pray for Zakhar.”

The attack is the latest to target prominent supporters of President Putin’s war in Ukraine.

Vladlen Tatarsky was killed last month. The blogger had reported on the front line in Ukraine and gained notoriety last year after posting a video filmed inside the Kremlin in which he said, “We will defeat everyone, we will kill everyone, we will rob everyone as necessary. Just as we like it.”

Activist Daria Trepova, 26, was later arrested and charged with terrorism after posting a video – believed to have been recorded under duress – in which she confessed to bringing a statuette into a café that later exploded.

And in August 2022, Daria Duzhina—the daughter of a close Putin ally—was killed in a car bombing near Moscow.

It is believed that her father, Russian philosopher Alexander Dugin, known as “Putin’s Brain”, may have been the intended target of this attack.

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