May 08, 2023

Pro-war Journalist Targeted, Again


Pro-war Journalist Targeted, Again
The car of Zakhar Prilepin after the explosion. Povyornutye na Z voine, Telegram.

Pro-War journalist, writer, and politician Zakhar Prilepin's car exploded near Nizhny Novgorod while returning from the occupied territories of Luhansk and Donetsk. Prilepin's bodyguard, a former member of Russian battalions in Luhansk, Alexander Shubin, died, while the 47-year-old author was critically injured. Prilepin's daughter, who was also in the car, got out before the bomb exploded.

After leaving his job as a riot police officer for OMON (Special Purpose Mobile Unit), Prilepin joined a Nizhny Novgorod newspaper as a staff writer. Then, he published several acclaimed novels. Yet the author's oeuvre also includes the antisemitic essay published in 2012, "A Letter to Comrade Stalin."

Prilepin openly boasted of killing Ukrainians while volunteering as a soldier in Donetsk in 2017. Consequently, he was declared a terrorist by the Ukrainian government. A founder of the "For Truth" party, he has supported Russia's War on Ukraine since day one. 

The attack echoes that on pro-Kremlin journalist Darya Dugina in 2022. A bomb was planted on Prilepin's car while the politician was grabbing lunch with his bodyguard. 

Police have detained a suspect in Nizhny Novgorod. According to Izvestia, the man recently acquired Russian citizenship, but it has not been confirmed whether he is originally from Ukraine. Atesh, a military movement of Ukrainians, Crimean Tatars, and Russians, has claimed responsibility for the bombing via Telegram.

Meanwhile, Prilepin had announced he was running for president in 2024, raising eyebrows at the Kremlin. 

 

You Might Also Like

Kara-Murza Sentenced to 25 Years
  • April 17, 2023

Kara-Murza Sentenced to 25 Years

Journalist and democratic activist Vladimir Kara-Murza has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for telling the truth.
Masha, The War Criminal
  • March 22, 2023

Masha, The War Criminal

The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Maria Lvova-Belova. Who is she?
Airwaves Hacked, Again
  • March 12, 2023

Airwaves Hacked, Again

A new hack into Russian radio and television stations reveals a vulnerable spot in the nation's airwaves.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of our Books

A Taste of Chekhov
December 24, 2022

A Taste of Chekhov

This compact volume is an introduction to the works of Chekhov the master storyteller, via nine stories spanning the last twenty years of his life.

The Samovar Murders
November 01, 2019

The Samovar Murders

The murder of a poet is always more than a murder. When a famous writer is brutally stabbed on the campus of Moscow’s Lumumba University, the son of a recently deposed African president confesses, and the case assumes political implications that no one wants any part of.

Murder and the Muse
December 12, 2016

Murder and the Muse

KGB Chief Andropov has tapped Matyushkin to solve a brazen jewel heist from Picasso’s wife at the posh Metropole Hotel. But when the case bleeds over into murder, machinations, and international intrigue, not everyone is eager to see where the clues might lead.

Marooned in Moscow
May 01, 2011

Marooned in Moscow

This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.

At the Circus
January 01, 2013

At the Circus

This wonderful novella by Alexander Kuprin tells the story of the wrestler Arbuzov and his battle against a renowned American wrestler. Rich in detail and characterization, At the Circus brims with excitement and life. You can smell the sawdust in the big top, see the vivid and colorful characters, sense the tension build as Arbuzov readies to face off against the American.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955