Day: May 6, 2023

Novelist and political activist Zakhar Prilepin, who has participated in Russia’s military operation in Ukraine, was rushed to a hospital after being injured in a car bombing on Saturday. The news agency Interfax cited emergency services saying that he remains in critical condition.

The blast took place on a road 70km from the city of Nizhny Novgorod in central Russia. Prilepin’s personal assistant, who was behind the wheel at the time of the incident, was killed.

Zakhar Prilepin was born as Evgeny Prilepin in 1975 in the village of Ilyinka in western Russia. After completing mandatory military service, he worked as a police officer in the 1990s and was deployed to Chechnya during the separatist and Islamist insurgency there.

He later became a journalist and built a career as a critically acclaimed novelist. Opinion polls have often shown him ranked as among the country’s top contemporary writers, and he was named the most popular author of 2022, according to a survey by pollster VCIOM. In the Western media, Prilepin has been commonly described as a “Russian nationalist.”

His crime thriller ‘Break Loose’, set in a small Russian town, was made into a film in 2013. His historical novel ‘Abode’, centered on a remote Soviet prison camp in the 1920s, was adapted into a TV series in 2021.

Prilepin gained additional fame as a prolific political pundit, frequently appearing on TV and radio, as well as hosting his own show on the Russian channel NTV. He was first involved with Eduard Limonov’s now-banned National Bolshevik Party until founding his own small conservative party, ‘For Truth’, in 2019.

Prilepin is known for his hawkish stance on foreign policy and has suggested that the whole of Ukraine should be incorporated into Russia. In 2014, he supported the revolt in the Donbass region, which rejected the Western-back coup in Kiev that year and declared independence from Ukraine, creating the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR).

After an armed conflict broke out between Ukrainian troops and Donbass forces, Prilepin visited the war zone many times, eventually becoming deputy commander of a DPR military unit with the rank of major. He quit the post in 2018, citing the desire to focus more on writing. Both Donbass republics joined Russia after holding referendums in September 2022.

In January, Prilepin enlisted in the Russian National Guard and went back to the frontline. “I have returned to the same war, to the same place where I first arrived in 2014, traveling down the same roads as nine years ago,” he told RT last week. “This is my story, the story of my life.”

Ukraine banned Prilepin’s books in 2018. Last year, he was blacklisted by the EU as part of the sanctions imposed on Russia over its military operation launched in the neighboring state more than a year ago.

The attempt on Prilepin’s life comes after a string of similar bombings. Last August, Darya Dugina, the daughter of Russian philosopher Aleksandr Dugin, died in a car blast outside Moscow.

In early April, a bomb went off inside a St. Petersburg cafe, killing popular military blogger and Donbass native Vladlen Tatarsky. Moscow attributed both killings to Ukrainian special services.

Source: Russia Today

Ukraine’s attempts to exploit the Black Sea grain corridor to stage terrorist attacks on Crimea, Russia cannot be tolerated, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin said in an exclusive interview with RT released on Saturday.

Speaking after talks with the United Nations Trade and Development chief on the renewal of the landmark UN- and Türkiye-brokered grain deal with Ukraine, which is set to expire on May 18, Vershinin signaled that Russia is not satisfied with the way the agreement is being implemented.

He said that while the talks turned out to be useful, as they allowed the headway being made to be measured, Russia “is not happy with the progress.” Vershinin explained that the part of the agreement unblocking Ukrainian grain exports via the Black Sea has yielded “real results,” but not without caveats.

“We are drawing attention to the fact that the grain… is probably being exported to the most developed countries… However, the very idea that was put forward by the UN secretary general [Antonio Guterres] to ensure food security in the world, as it turns out, is not actually happening.”

Vershinin said the parties to the deal are working on the international humanitarian corridor to export grain, “but everyone knows that, unfortunately, it was used by the Ukrainian side, in particular, to organize terrorist attacks against Sevastopol, which is absolutely unacceptable.”

The deputy foreign minister went on to tout Russia’s potential in ensuring global food security. “It is well-known, if we remove barriers for our agricultural exports, and for the exports of our fertilizers, many countries of the world will benefit.”

Concluded last July, the landmark grain deal with Ukraine has since hit some stumbling blocks. Russian officials have repeatedly complained that while the deal indeed unblocked Ukrainian grain exports, it failed to unblock deliveries of Russian food and fertilizers to global markets, mostly due to the Western sanctions.

The deal has also been marred by several Ukrainian attacks using the grain corridor, resulting in Russia briefly suspending its participation in the agreement in October 2022.

In April, Russia’s Defense Ministry said that Ukraine had broken its promise not to use the grain corridor for military purposes after several unmanned boats attacked the Black Sea Fleet bases in Sevastopol, as well as civilian infrastructure on two occasions, potentially threatening the deal’s renewal.

Source: Russia Today

Russian police have announced the have arrested a man who could be connected to the bomb blast that injured prominent Russian writer and political activist Zakhar Prilepin.

According to the Nizhny Novgorod Region prosecutor’s office the explosion took place in the village of Pionersky, some 70km from the eponymous city, some 400km to the east of Moscow.

In a statement, Russian Interior Ministry spokeswoman Irina Volk said that “during a hot pursuit in Nizhny Novgorod Region, police officers apprehended a man who may have been involved in blowing up the car with Zakhar Prilepin inside.”

Volk said that the man “had been spotted near the village of Pionersky, according to witnesses.”

The Interior Ministry added that the 30-year-old suspect, who has a prior criminal record, was arrested while police officers were implementing a dragnet. A Ren TV channel source had earlier identified the man as a local resident who recently received Russian citizenship, adding that he was being interrogated by law enforcement.

The Baza Telegram channel noted, citing sources, that the police were seeking a second suspect, described as a 33-year-old man who had rented an apartment on the city outskirts one day before the blast. The man is said to have come to police attention because he is registered in Ukraine’s Kharkov Region.

The Tass news agency reported, citing sources, that individuals believed to be involved in the attack were also being sought in Moscow Region and that the addresses of these additional suspects are already known. The police have also reportedly managed to pinpoint the apartment where the explosive device that blew up Prilepin’s car was assembled.

Earlier in the day, Russia’s Investigative Committee announced that it had opened a criminal investigation into the attack and that forensic scientists had been dispatched to the scene. It also described the blast as a “terrorist act.”

According to the Interior Ministry, while Prilepin was injured, the blast killed a man identified by Russian media outlets as the writer’s driver. Commenting on Prilepin’s health status, the governor of Nizhny Novgorod Region Gleb Nikitin said that he “suffered from minor fractures, but his life is under no threat.” The governor added that he was in the care of local medical personnel.

Nikitin described the deceased man as “Prilepin’s assistant and comrade” while expressing condolences to his family and loved ones.

Russia’s Investigative Committee also published a picture of Prilepin’s severely damaged car. The vehicle appears to have been flipped over by the blast, with its front completely destroyed and front wheels missing. The car is seen lying on its roof near a crater that was apparently caused by the explosion.

Other videos and pictures on social media appear to show emergency services and law enforcement officers having arrived at the scene.

Source: Russia Today

Russian author and political activist Zakhar Prilepin was seriously injured on Saturday in a car bomb near the city of Nizhny Novgorod. His driver was killed.

The explosion occurred while Prilepin’s car was on a highway. Preliminary data indicated that the explosive device was planted underneath the vehicle.

The Mash Telegram channel reported that as a result of the blast, which took place near the town of Bor across the Volga River from Nizhny Novgorod, the car flipped over. The newspaper RBK reported, citing sources, that the explosion occurred as Prilepin was returning from a trip to Russia’s two Donbass republics.

Medics told the media that both of Prilepin’s legs were broken. He also suffered a concussion.

According to the Baza Telegram channel, Prilepin was accompanied by his daughter, but in a fortunate turn of events, she had stepped out of the car minutes before it exploded.

Gleb Nikitin, the governor of Nizhny Novgorod Region, confirmed that Prilepin is “all right,” adding that Russian law enforcement agencies are “investigating the circumstances and causes of the incident.”

Responsibility for the attack was claimed by a radical Ukrainian movement called Atesh, which said that it “had been hunting Prilepin since the start of this year.”

After the Western-backed coup in Kiev in 2014, Prilepin emerged as a staunch supporter of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, which broke free from Ukraine’s rule and later joined Russia. In 2017, he formed his own volunteer battalion, taking the position of political officer. In late January, the writer’s press service said that Prilepin had signed a contract with Russia’s National Guard and set off for the conflict zone.

Prilepin has also authored several books, most notably ‘The Pathologies’, a novel about the Chechen War, as well as ‘Some Will Not Go To Hell’, describing the hostilities in Donbass.

READ MORE: Russian city to honor journalist allegedly murdered by Ukrainian operatives

The blast is the latest in a string of similar incidents that have claimed the lives of two prominent Russian public figures. In early April, a bomb exploded in a cafe in St. Petersburg, taking the life of military blogger Vladlen Tatarsky. The Russian authorities say the killing was orchestrated by Ukrainian special services.

Last August, Darya Dugina, the daughter of Russian philosopher Aleksandr Dugin, died in a car blast in Moscow Region, an assassination that Russian officials have also attributed to Ukrainian special services.

Source: Russia Today

Sales of new passenger cars in Russia jumped 2.7 times in April compared to the same period in 2022, data from analytical agency Avtostat showed on Thursday.

According to the report, more than 75,000 new vehicles were sold last month in total, which is 8% more than in March.

Avtostat said that 44% of the cars sold were Chinese brands, while another 35% were Russian made. The combined share of South Korean, Japanese, European, and American automobiles fell to just over 20%.

The top-selling brand in the country was Russian LADA (33.4%), and the most popular model was the Lada Granta (24.3%). Among foreign automakers, Chery was the best-selling Chinese brand, and the Geely Coolray crossover was the top selling model.

The exit of Western and Japanese companies from the Russian auto market has provided an opportunity to rising industry players such as China and Iran.

Chinese automakers have embarked on a major expansion in the Russian market and are expected to reach a 60% share of total sales this year, according to car dealer chain Autodom. China exported over 160,000 cars to Russia last year, more than doubling its share of the country’s auto market.

Iranian auto makers are also expected to launch sales in Russia this year.

READ MORE: Chinese firm may take over German car plant in Russia – media

Experts say the situation could also boost the Russian auto industry. Car manufacturer AvtoVAZ revealed earlier that it plans to double production this year to more than 400,000 cars. According to the company’s press service, it has the capacity to produce up to 500,000 vehicles a year.

Source: Russia Today

Russia’s Health Ministry is mulling new measures to curb the consumption of strong alcoholic beverages in the country, RIA Novosti has reported. Among the steps reportedly under consideration are restrictions on the hours when spirits can be sold and raising the legal drinking age.

In an article on Saturday, the media outlet reported that officials are considering prohibiting the sale of liquor with an alcohol content of more than 17.5% to anyone under 21. Currently the legal drinking age for all alcohol in Russia is 18.

Another measure proposed in the ministry’s report, which RIA claims to have seen, is to grant local authorities the right to restrict the sale of liquor on weekends and public holidays. Additionally, they would be able to impose a ban on alcohol sales from 8pm until 11am.

The sale of alcohol is currently not permitted between 11pm and 8am in Moscow and from 10pm to 11am in St. Petersburg. Several other regions, including Chukotka and Dagestan, have established their own hours.

The ministry also seeks to outlaw any form of advertising of hard liquor, as well as prohibit it from being featured in newly produced musical clips, television series, movies and music, RIA reported.

According to the article, the need for tougher regulations is being discussed in light of recently released statistics from 2022 showing retail sales of alcohol having exceeded the forecast level.

This trend, as the ministry’s document reportedly noted, calls for more vigorous efforts at promoting a healthy lifestyle.

Source: Russia Today