Russia on Saturday implicated the West and "primarily" the United States for its responsibility, according to it, in the "terrorist attacks" committed by Ukraine on its territory, after the bombing attack on the car of nationalist writer Zakhar Prilepin. "The responsibility for this and other terrorist attacks rests not only with the Ukrainian authorities but also with their Western sponsors, first and foremost the United States," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement, adding that "the silence of the international organizations concerned is unacceptable”.
Fierce support for the military offensive against Ukraine in which he claimed to be taking part, a successful writer translated to the West and then a champion of an ultra-nationalist line, Zakhar Prilepin was seriously injured in the explosion which practically destroyed his vehicle Saturday near Nizhny Novgorod, Russia's third largest city, 400 km east of Moscow. The attack, which killed Prilepin's driver and comrade in arms, comes as drone strikes, sabotage and alleged attacks have multiplied in recent weeks on Russian territory, without their perpetrators being clearly identified.
Last August, a similar explosion claimed the life of Daria Douguina, the daughter of ultranationalist ideologue Alexandre Douguine, herself a blogger and committed journalist. In April, an influential paramilitary blogger, Vladlen Tatarskii, was killed by an explosion in Saint Petersburg. And last Wednesday, the Kremlin, the heart of Russian power, was targeted by a mysterious drone attack.
The Ukrainian authorities have never acknowledged attacks on Russian territory, and the United States this week denounced a "lie" after being accused by Moscow of having ordered the mysterious drone attack on the Kremlin, committed a few days of the May 9 celebrations in Red Square of the 1945 Soviet victory over Nazi Germany. According to the Russian Investigative Committee, which also speaks of a "terrorist act", the explosion of Zakhar Prilepin's car occurred around 11 a.m. in a locality in the Borsky district of the Nizhny Novgorod region.
Interfax, citing medical emergency services, said the writer was in "serious" condition. “It was decided not to transfer him to Moscow and to operate on him in Nizhny Novgorod. His condition is considered serious," the source said. A photo from the scene of the incident, released by the Investigation Committee, shows what remains of a white vehicle with the front end shredded and overturned on its roof, past a crater on a dirt road, in a wooded area.
The Interior Ministry quickly announced the arrest of a suspect, born in 1993, in the same region. Later, the Investigative Committee claimed that the suspect, named Alexander Permyakov, "declared that he acted on the instructions of the Ukrainian special services". The spokeswoman for Russian diplomacy, Maria Zakharova, immediately accused Ukraine, the United States, Great Britain and NATO of being behind this "terrorist" act. "Direct responsibility of the United States and Great Britain." We pray for Zakhar,” she wrote on Telegram.
