Russian authorities say the suspect in the attempted assassination of nationalist writer Zakhar Prilepin confessed to having been on orders from Kiev and criticize the silence of international organizations.
According to a statement from the Commission of Inquiry, the suspect in the attack – identified as Alexander Permyakov and of Ukrainian descent – confessed during interrogation that he “acted on behalf of the Ukrainian special services”.
Prilepin’s car exploded in Russia today, injuring him and killing his driver, Russia’s state news agency Tass said, citing emergency services and police officials.
According to the AP agency, relying on information provided by Tass, the incident involving the car of Zakhar Prilepin – a well-known nationalist writer and ardent supporter of what the Kremlin calls a “special military operation” in Ukraine – took place in the Nizhny region. Novgorod, about 400 kilometers east of Moscow.
In his statement, the suspect did not put the explosive device under Prilepin’s car, as previously reported by the Russian security forces, but on a spot on the road to which the writer was driving.
“In the path of Zakhar Prilepin’s car, Permyakov placed an explosive device, which he activated remotely,” said the Commission of Inquiry, which posted a video of the interrogation on the Telegram social network.
The attack suspect was apprehended during his escape and detectives are looking for other people allegedly involved in the Prilepin murder attempt.
Russian diplomacy has implicated the United States in this attempt to assassinate Prilepin and criticizes the silence of international organizations.
“Responsibility for these and other terrorist attacks lies not only with the Ukrainian authorities, but also with their Western sponsors, primarily the United States,” the State Department said in a statement, adding that “the silence of international organizations involved is unacceptable”.
Prilepin fought in Chechnya in the 1990s and now returned from the front in Donbass to his home in the Novogorod region.
The writer suffered minor fractures, but the driver of the car died.
Prilepin was the leader of the ultra-nationalist For Truth party, which he founded in 2020 and which merged with the Just Russia party in 2021.
This was the third explosion involving prominent pro-Kremlin figures since the start of the war in Ukraine.
In August 2022, a bomb attack outside Moscow killed Daria Dugina, the daughter of an influential Russian theorist and political thinker often referred to as “Putin’s brain”. Authorities claimed Ukraine was behind the blast.
Last month, an explosion at a St. Petersburg cafe killed a popular military blogger, Vladlen Tatarsky, and authorities again blamed Ukrainian secret services for the orchestration.
Source: DN
