A view shows a destroyed vehicle, which transported Russian writer Zakhar Prilepin allegedly wounded in a car bombing in the Nizhny Novgorod region, Russia, May 6, 2023. (Reuters)
Published: 06 May ,2023
Here are some key facts about Zakhar Prilepin, a Russian nationalist writer who was wounded when a bomb blew up his car on Saturday.
*Prilepin, 47, is the author of six novels, often focusing on dark themes. His debut novel “The Pathologies” told the story of young soldiers in the Chechen wars. He has also written numerous poems, essays and articles, and is the recipient of various state awards including a 2021 arts prize from the defence ministry.
*He is an outspoken pro-war figure on social media, with around 300,000 subscribers each to his Telegram and YouTube channels.
*For years, he has organised Russian proxy fighters in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, boasting in a 2019 YouTube interview that his unit “killed people in big numbers”. The extent of his direct combat involvement is not clear.
*Prilepin has been politically active as the co-chair of the “A Just Russia - For Truth” party. Last year he took a prominent role in creating GRAD, a parliamentary group that seeks to identify cultural figures with “anti-Russian” views and persuade the state and business to stop funding them. GRAD’s initials stand for “Group to investigate anti-Russian activity in the cultural sphere.” Grad is also the Russian word for “hail”, and the name of a missile system.
*Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine last February, he has been sanctioned by Switzerland, Britain, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the European Union.
Russian nationalist writer Zakhar Prilepin injured in car bombing, one person killed
Russian writer Zakhar Prilepin poses for a picture in his flat
in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, on December 6, 2008. (Reuters)
AFP
Published: 06 May ,2023
A prominent Russian nationalist writer, Zakhar Prilepin, was wounded in a car bombing on Saturday that Russia immediately blamed on Ukraine and the West.
TASS news agency quoted the interior ministry as saying one person had been killed in the blast in Nizny Novgorod region, about 400 km (250 miles) east of Moscow.
It separately quoted a source in the emergency services as saying the writer was wounded but conscious after the explosion.
For all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova wrote on Telegram: “The fact has come true: Washington and NATO fed another international terrorist cell - the Kyiv regime.”
She said it was the “direct responsibility of the US and Britain,” but provided no evidence to support the accusation.
“We pray for Zakhar,” she said.
TASS quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as declining to comment in the absence of information from investigators.
Prilepin is a novelist who is known as an outspoken supporter of Russia’s actions in Ukraine, where Moscow’s invasion is in its 15th month.
Regional governor Gleb Nikitin said: “Law enforcement officers are now investigating the circumstances and causes of the incident. Zakhar is OK.”
Two leading pro-war Russian propagandists have been killed in bombings since Russia invaded Ukraine in February last year.
Darya Dugina, the daughter of a nationalist ideologue, died in a car bombing near Moscow in August, while military blogger Vladlen Tatarsky was killed in a bomb attack in a St Petersburg cafe last month.
AFP
Published: 06 May ,2023
A prominent Russian nationalist writer, Zakhar Prilepin, was wounded in a car bombing on Saturday that Russia immediately blamed on Ukraine and the West.
TASS news agency quoted the interior ministry as saying one person had been killed in the blast in Nizny Novgorod region, about 400 km (250 miles) east of Moscow.
It separately quoted a source in the emergency services as saying the writer was wounded but conscious after the explosion.
For all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova wrote on Telegram: “The fact has come true: Washington and NATO fed another international terrorist cell - the Kyiv regime.”
She said it was the “direct responsibility of the US and Britain,” but provided no evidence to support the accusation.
“We pray for Zakhar,” she said.
TASS quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as declining to comment in the absence of information from investigators.
Prilepin is a novelist who is known as an outspoken supporter of Russia’s actions in Ukraine, where Moscow’s invasion is in its 15th month.
Regional governor Gleb Nikitin said: “Law enforcement officers are now investigating the circumstances and causes of the incident. Zakhar is OK.”
Two leading pro-war Russian propagandists have been killed in bombings since Russia invaded Ukraine in February last year.
Darya Dugina, the daughter of a nationalist ideologue, died in a car bombing near Moscow in August, while military blogger Vladlen Tatarsky was killed in a bomb attack in a St Petersburg cafe last month.
Nationalist writer and politician Zakhar Prilepin in critical condition following a car bombing
May 6, 2023
Source: Meduza
A car bombing outside of Nizhny Novgorod injured Russian nationalist politician and writer Zakhar Prilepin. Telegram channel Baza reports that Prilepin’s daughter was riding in the car with him, but that she got out of the car before the explosion.
The car’s driver, who was also Prilepin’s bodyguard, was killed. Publication Verstka reports that the driver was a Luhansk separatist fighter. Russian Telegram channels previously reported that the driver went by the call sign Zloy (Evil). According to Verstka, that call sign belonged to 27-year-old Luhansk native Alexander Shubin, who fought with the Surkov–Prilepin battalion before moving to the Nizhny Novgorod region, where Zakhar Prilepin lives with his family.
Prilepin was reportedly traveling to Moscow from the occupied Luhansk and Donetsk “people’s republics.” Russian state broadcaster RBC reports that Prilepin stopped at a cafe in the Nizhny Novgorod region on his way to Moscow. The bomb was possibly planted in his car while he ate. A source for the Telegram channel Shot says an explosive device was placed under the hood of Prilepin’s Audi and exploded as soon as the car left the cafe. Shot reports that the explosion formed a crater and scattered wreckage from the car 50 meters (over 150 feet).
Prilepin is in critical condition and will undergo surgery in a hospital in Nizhny Novgorod. Reports about the writer’s condition varied immediately following the incident. Nizhny Novgorod governor Gleb Nikitin say that Prilepin “was okay.” Regional emergency services later confirmed that Prilepin had been injured. TASS reported that Prilepin sustained injuries to both of his legs. Within 45 minutes of the explosion, a Shot source said that the writer was being evacuated by medical helicopter, and pro-Kremlin Ukrainian blogger Anatoly Shariy posted about an emergency amputation of Prilepin’s legs. RIA Novosti, citing a source in law enforcement, reported that Prilepin had suffered fractures and a concussion. Telegram channel Mash says that first responders splinted and bandaged Prilepin’s broken leg before loading him into an evacuation helicopter.
The first photographs of the incident emerged an hour after the explosion, showing a mangled car and the helicopter that reportedly took Prilepin to a hospital.
Russia’s Investigative Committee has opened a criminal case into the explosion, classifying the incident as a terrorist attack.
Presidential spokesperson Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on the incident. Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, called the attack on Prilepin “a cynical performance” and “a vile attack carried out by Nazi extremists.”
Police in Nizhny Novgorod arrested a possible suspect after a search by local authorities. Telegram channel Baza reported that police were tasked with stopping “all suspicious vehicles.” A source for Interfax reported that the suspect had been following Prilepin. The source said the suspect was around 30 and fit the description of a person who had been seen during the previous two days outside of Prilepin’s home in the Nizhny Novgorod region. The source added that another person, who “was seen near the village in a vehicle without license plates” is still wanted.
Later on May 6, Alexander Permyakov, who was arrested in connection with the car bombing, confessed. Permyakov said he was acting on instructions from Ukrainian special services, and that he placed an explosive on the road Prilepin was traveling on, detonating it at a distance.
Politician Ilya Ponomarev said the explosion was organized by the National Republican Army, which has also claimed responsibility for killing high-profile right-wing figures like Vladlen Tatarsky and Daria Dugina.
Atesh, a military paristan movement among Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars in the occupied territories of Ukraine, also claims to have taken part in the event. On January 28, the Atesh movement posted on Telegram, “The orders for Prilepin have been given! We’ve sent out more than 5,000 text messages to our agents and Russian soldiers to find and liquidate a known Ruscist.” On May 6, the day of the car bombing, Atesh announced that they had “been hunting Prilepin since the beginning of the year,” adding that “Our predictions always come true, because we don’t just speak, we act.”
On May 4, Prilepin posted on his personal Telegram channel that the Oplot battalion, of which he was a deputy commander, would take a leave from the combat zone. The writer and politician went to war in January 2023. He supported the Russian troops from the first days of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. A Prilepin spokesperson said he ran “humanitarian missions” in Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory.
Prilepin planned to run for President of the Russian Federation in 2024. By August 2022, he had already opened several campaign headquarters in Russia as well as in the self-proclaimed LNR and Russian-occupied territories of Kherson and Kharkiv. One source told news outlet Vedomosti that Putin’s administration looked on Prilepin’s presidential ambitions “not in the best way.”
May 6, 2023
Source: Meduza
A car bombing outside of Nizhny Novgorod injured Russian nationalist politician and writer Zakhar Prilepin. Telegram channel Baza reports that Prilepin’s daughter was riding in the car with him, but that she got out of the car before the explosion.
The car’s driver, who was also Prilepin’s bodyguard, was killed. Publication Verstka reports that the driver was a Luhansk separatist fighter. Russian Telegram channels previously reported that the driver went by the call sign Zloy (Evil). According to Verstka, that call sign belonged to 27-year-old Luhansk native Alexander Shubin, who fought with the Surkov–Prilepin battalion before moving to the Nizhny Novgorod region, where Zakhar Prilepin lives with his family.
Prilepin was reportedly traveling to Moscow from the occupied Luhansk and Donetsk “people’s republics.” Russian state broadcaster RBC reports that Prilepin stopped at a cafe in the Nizhny Novgorod region on his way to Moscow. The bomb was possibly planted in his car while he ate. A source for the Telegram channel Shot says an explosive device was placed under the hood of Prilepin’s Audi and exploded as soon as the car left the cafe. Shot reports that the explosion formed a crater and scattered wreckage from the car 50 meters (over 150 feet).
Prilepin is in critical condition and will undergo surgery in a hospital in Nizhny Novgorod. Reports about the writer’s condition varied immediately following the incident. Nizhny Novgorod governor Gleb Nikitin say that Prilepin “was okay.” Regional emergency services later confirmed that Prilepin had been injured. TASS reported that Prilepin sustained injuries to both of his legs. Within 45 minutes of the explosion, a Shot source said that the writer was being evacuated by medical helicopter, and pro-Kremlin Ukrainian blogger Anatoly Shariy posted about an emergency amputation of Prilepin’s legs. RIA Novosti, citing a source in law enforcement, reported that Prilepin had suffered fractures and a concussion. Telegram channel Mash says that first responders splinted and bandaged Prilepin’s broken leg before loading him into an evacuation helicopter.
The first photographs of the incident emerged an hour after the explosion, showing a mangled car and the helicopter that reportedly took Prilepin to a hospital.
Russia’s Investigative Committee has opened a criminal case into the explosion, classifying the incident as a terrorist attack.
Presidential spokesperson Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on the incident. Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, called the attack on Prilepin “a cynical performance” and “a vile attack carried out by Nazi extremists.”
Police in Nizhny Novgorod arrested a possible suspect after a search by local authorities. Telegram channel Baza reported that police were tasked with stopping “all suspicious vehicles.” A source for Interfax reported that the suspect had been following Prilepin. The source said the suspect was around 30 and fit the description of a person who had been seen during the previous two days outside of Prilepin’s home in the Nizhny Novgorod region. The source added that another person, who “was seen near the village in a vehicle without license plates” is still wanted.
Later on May 6, Alexander Permyakov, who was arrested in connection with the car bombing, confessed. Permyakov said he was acting on instructions from Ukrainian special services, and that he placed an explosive on the road Prilepin was traveling on, detonating it at a distance.
Politician Ilya Ponomarev said the explosion was organized by the National Republican Army, which has also claimed responsibility for killing high-profile right-wing figures like Vladlen Tatarsky and Daria Dugina.
Atesh, a military paristan movement among Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars in the occupied territories of Ukraine, also claims to have taken part in the event. On January 28, the Atesh movement posted on Telegram, “The orders for Prilepin have been given! We’ve sent out more than 5,000 text messages to our agents and Russian soldiers to find and liquidate a known Ruscist.” On May 6, the day of the car bombing, Atesh announced that they had “been hunting Prilepin since the beginning of the year,” adding that “Our predictions always come true, because we don’t just speak, we act.”
On May 4, Prilepin posted on his personal Telegram channel that the Oplot battalion, of which he was a deputy commander, would take a leave from the combat zone. The writer and politician went to war in January 2023. He supported the Russian troops from the first days of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. A Prilepin spokesperson said he ran “humanitarian missions” in Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory.
Prilepin planned to run for President of the Russian Federation in 2024. By August 2022, he had already opened several campaign headquarters in Russia as well as in the self-proclaimed LNR and Russian-occupied territories of Kherson and Kharkiv. One source told news outlet Vedomosti that Putin’s administration looked on Prilepin’s presidential ambitions “not in the best way.”
No comments:
Post a Comment