He survived but was seriously injured when his car exploded in Nizhny Novgorod, about 400 kilometers east of Moscow. For the assassination attempt on Russian nationalist writer Zakhar Prilepin, the Kremlin points to Kiev. Russian authorities have already arrested a man named Aleksandr Permyakov, who allegedly admitted to “acting on the orders of the Ukrainian secret services”. But why was Prilepin chosen to strike the Kremlin?
Russian nationalist writer Zakhar Prilepin’s car exploded
Prilepin, a controversial writer
Prilepin, 47, has been a controversial hero of the Russian nationalist literary scene for years. He made his political debut as a writer and journalist in the opposition National Bolshevik party, then approached Russian President Vladimir Putin and became one of the most vocal supporters of the war in Ukraine. In January, he had gone to fight in the Donbass in the ranks of the National Guard.
The son of a teacher and a nurse, Prilepin grew up in the Russian province of Nizhny Novgorod. In the nineties he commanded the ranks of Omon, the anti-terrorist units of the Russian police, and then fought in Chechnya from 1996 to 1999. He later became a journalist for various newspapers, including the independent newspaper Novaja Gazeta.
Prilepin, who describes himself as an “ultra-left nationalist”, joined writer Eduard Limonov’s National-Bolshevik party in 1996 and became famous for his biography of Emmanuel Carrere. The ‘Nazbol’ movement, which was later banned by the Russian authorities, counted among its main figures the far-right ultranationalist Alexander Dugin, who had fled an attack similar to the attack on Prilepin last summer, in which his daughter Daria killed Dugina.
In 2019, Prilepin founded the national conservative party “For Truth”, which later merged with Just Russia, a formation close to Vladimir Putin’s Kremlin. In 2016, he fought pro-Russians in Donbass and for some time advised the leaders of the self-proclaimed Donetsk republic. Besides his political activity, Prilepin is a well-known author, translated into eleven languages, including Italian, famous for his books such as “Sankia”, “Pathologies” and “Hot vodka penis boots”. Part of the Russian delegation at the Paris book fair in 2018.
Prilepin, who has been widely covered in the Russian media, has taken increasingly nationalist and conservative positions, declaring, among other things, that the covid epidemic is a divine punishment against the West for “recognizing same-sex marriages.” In 2020, Putin included him among the 75 people responsible for constitutional amendment. Last summer on the list of Russian figures who have been subject to European sanctions since the beginning of the occupation of Ukraine, Prilepin formed a group in the Russian parliament with the aim of excluding all artists from cultural life who do not actively support the war in Ukraine.
Source: Today IT
Karen Clayton is a seasoned journalist and author at The Nation Update, with a focus on world news and current events. She has a background in international relations, which gives her a deep understanding of the political, economic and social factors that shape the global landscape. She writes about a wide range of topics, including conflicts, political upheavals, and economic trends, as well as humanitarian crisis and human rights issues.
