Russia has blamed Ukraine for the weekend car bombing in which a prominent Russian nationalist writer and politician was wounded, and his driver killed.
Ukraine, in turn, has charged Russia with staging the incident.
The explosion on Saturday in the western Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod, the latest in a series of attacks aimed at prominent pro-war figures, was evidently targeted at Zakhar Prilepin. He was hospitalised but suffered no serious injuries.
Prilepin was a vocal backer of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. According to Tass, he is a veteran of Russia’s war in Chechnya and fought in eastern Ukraine on the side of Moscow-backed forces in 2014.
The European Union imposed economic sanctions on Mr. Prilepin in 2022, saying ‘he is responsible for actively supporting or implementing actions or policies which undermine or threaten the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine, as well as stability and security in Ukraine’.
In January he enlisted in Russia’s National Guard and formed his own special unit, travelling to fight in Ukraine.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, described the incident as an act of terrorism and blamed Ukraine.
Reuters reports that Ukraine’s security services refused to confirm or deny involvement, but that a senior Ukrainian official accused Russia of staging the incident.
Russian authorities said they had detained a man who confessed to the attack and said he was working for Ukraine’s intelligence services.
Earlier this year, an influential military blogger, Maxim Fomin, was killed when a bomb inside a statue given to him exploded at an event.
Last year, Daria Dugina, a prominent proponent of the war and daughter of one of Russia’s hawks was killed in a car bombing near Moscow.
[Image: Rodrigo Fernández, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=88055630]