Car bomb targets Russian writer and activist Zakhar Prilepin

06.05.2023 13:29

Car bomb targets Russian writer and activist Zakhar Prilepin
Sputnik/Ekaterina Chesnokova

A blast ripped through a car carrying prominent Russian author and political activist Zakhar Prilepin near the city of Nizhny Novgorod, several Russian media outlets reported on Saturday. Prilepin reportedly survived but his driver was killed.

A source told RIA Novosti that the explosion occurred while Prilepin’s car was on the highway. The writer’s press service, meanwhile, told the outlet that he was “all right,” but noted that the exact details of the incident were still unclear.  

Meanwhile, a source cited by the TASS news agency claimed that the writer “was injured, but remains conscious,” with preliminary data indicating that the explosive device was planted underneath the vehicle.

The Mash Telegram channel reported that as the result of the blast, which took place near the town of Bor across the Volga River from Nizhny Novgorod, the car flipped over and both of Prilepin's legs were broken. The newspaper RBK reported, citing sources, that the explosion occurred as Prilepin was returning from a trip to Russia’s two Donbass republics.

According to the Baza Telegram channel, Prilepin was accompanied by his daughter, but in a fortunate turn of events, she had stepped out of the car minutes before it exploded.

Gleb Nikitin, the governor of Nizhny Novgorod Region, confirmed that Prilepin is “all right,” adding that Russian law enforcement agencies are “investigating the circumstances and causes of the incident.”

Responsibility for the attack was claimed by a radical Ukrainian movement called Atesh, which said that it “had been hunting Prilepin since the start of this year.”