A court in Moscow sentenced a man to life in prison on Sept. 30 for a car bomb attack in May 2023 that seriously wounded Russian pro-war writer and former fighter Zakhar Prilepin.
Russian state-run media have claimed that the convict Alexander Permyakov has both Ukrainian and Russian citizenship and further alleged that he acted on behalf of Kyiv — with the support of the U.S.
Prilepin was sanctioned in 2022 by Ukraine, the EU, the U.K., and Canada for supporting Russia's full-scale invasion. He joined Russia's National Guard to fight against Ukraine in January 2023, according to several Russian media reports.
Previously, Prilepin fought with Russian proxy fighters in Donetsk Oblast between 2016 and 2018 and regularly speaks out in favor of Russia's full-scale invasion.
The car bomb attack occurred in the Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod and resulted in both of Prilepin's legs being broken, among other injuries. It also killed Prilepin's driver.
Russian state-run media claimed that Permyakov confessed to the attack after his arrest, and alleged that he had been recruited by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and promised $20,000 as payment.
The SBU has not confirmed or denied its involvement in the attack, but the Atesh partisan group claimed responsibility for carrying it out.
There is no way to independently verify the validity of Permyakov's alleged confession. Russia does not provide transparent access to its legal system, and international human rights organizations have long detailed rampant abuse in prisons, as well as the use of torture to coerce confessions.
A number of Russian propagandists, proxy officials, and other pro-war figures have been targeted for alleged assassinations, some of which have been successful, in both occupied territories of Ukraine and in Russia itself.
In April 2023, an explosion in a cafe in downtown St. Petersburg killed Russian propagandist Vladlen Tatarsky and injured a dozen others.
The Kyiv Independent news desk
