Pro-Kremlin writer targeted in 'terrorist' attack near Moscow
A prominent pro-Kremlin Russian writer has been injured in a car explosion near the capital Moscow, in an attack Russia blames on Ukraine and its Western allies.
Russia’s state news agency Tass cited emergency and law enforcement officials as saying that the car of Zakhar Prilepin exploded on Saturday, injuring him and killing his driver.
"According to initial reports, one person was killed by the explosion, and the writer Zakhar Prilepin, who was in the car, was injured" in the Nizhny Novgorod region some 400 kilometers (250 miles) east of Moscow, the interior ministry said.
Governor of the Niznhy Novgorod region Gleb Nikitin said the novelist suffered minor bone fractures and was receiving treatment.
A terrorism probe has also been launched into the blast, and a suspect was detained.
"The Investigative Committee of Russia has opened a criminal case into a terrorist act in connection with the explosion of Zakhar Prilepin's car," said the committee that probes major crimes.
Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova blamed the explosion on the West and Ukraine.
“Washington and NATO have nursed yet another international terrorist cell — the Kiev regime,” Zakharova wrote in a post on the messaging app Telegram, adding “Direct responsibility of the US and Britain. We’re praying for Zakhar.”
Prilepin was hit by the European Union (EU) sanctions last year for his support of Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine.
It is the third attack to target prominent pro-Kremlin figures since the start of the war in Ukraine in February 2022.
In August 2022, the daughter of Russian political philosopher Alexander Dugin, who is known for his staunch anti-West views, was killed in a car bomb attack.
Last month, a bombing in a St. Petersburg cafe killed Vladlen Tatarsky, a prominent Russian war blogger known for his coverage of the Ukraine war.
Russia's war on Ukraine started in late February 2022 with Moscow saying it was aimed at defending the pro-Russian population in the eastern Ukrainian regions of Luhansk and Donetsk against persecution by Kiev.
Ever since the war began, Ukraine's Western allies, including the European Union and the US, have been supplying large consignments of heavy weaponry to Kiev and slapping Russia with a slew of sanctions. Moscow says such measures will only prolong the conflict.
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