Prominent Russian nationalist Zahar Prilepin was wounded in a car bomb attack in the city of Nizhny Novgorod on Saturday. His driver died. His daughter, who was traveling with him and had gotten out of the vehicle, was not injured. Prilepin's medical condition is serious, but not critical. The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation classified the incident as a terrorist attack. There is a suspect in custody. Shortly after the news broke, Russia blamed Ukraine for the attack and accused the West of promoting "terrorism." Two leading Russian pro-war propagandists have been killed in bombings since Russia invaded Ukraine in February last year.
With an ideological trajectory that stems from the National-Bolshevik movement of Eduard Limonov and currently a member of the executive of the Just Russia-Patriots For Truth party, Prilepin has been one of the leading voices in favor of the invasion of Ukraine and has even fought in war. In January it became known that Prilepin volunteered to go to the Ukrainian front. He also served in the ranks of the Donetsk People's Republic in 2018.
Since the start of the war, it has been under sanctions from the European Union, the United Kingdom and other countries. In 2014, according to the 'Russian Reporter' magazine, Prilepin was included in the list of '100 outstanding people of the year' in Russia. That year he condemned Russian cultural figures who opposed Russia's annexation of Crimea and traveled to the Donbas front as a military correspondent.
Moscow has blamed Ukraine for the attack. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova wrote on Telegram: "It is a fact: Washington and NATO have been feeding another international terrorist cell: the Kiev regime." She said it was "the direct responsibility of the United States and Great Britain" but provided no evidence to support the allegation. "We pray for Zajar," she added. Although ten years ago she signed manifestos against Vladimir Putin, the annexation of Crimea drew him into the discourse of Putinism. In late October 2014, Prilepin asked his readers to help Novorosiya, Putin's suggested imperialist project for eastern Ukraine. He regularly extolled the heroism of the invasion and stigmatized the current Ukrainian authorities as Nazis.
The explosive device was located under the bottom of the car. According to the Russian media RBC, a crater was formed at the site of the explosion. As a result of the detonation, Prilepin was injured in the legs. The car with Prilepin exploded in a village near Nizhny Novgorod. "Prilepin was on his way to Nizhny to visit his family. The explosive device could be under the bottom of the Audi Q7," local media reported.
It is the third attack of this type that has occurred in Russia, this time a few days after the traditional Victory Day parade. On April 2, in St. Petersburg, an explosion occurred in a cafe where a creative evening of Russian propagandist Vladlen Tatarsky was being held. On August 20, 2022, political scientist Daria Dugina (daughter of Russian nationalist guru Alexander Dugin) was killed in a car explosion on a highway in the Moscow region. In both cases the Russian FSB security service said Ukrainian special services were behind the killing, though in the second they shifted the blame to Russian dissidents. Ukraine denied her involvement.
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