Arrest and Charges Made in Assassination Attempt on Russian Pro-War Novelist

The suspect in the car blast that wounded pro-Kremlin nationalist writer Zakhar Prilepin and killed another person has been indicted on charges of terrorism and arms smuggling. Alexander Permyakov faces up to 20 years in prison on charges of terrorism and 15 years for arms smuggling. Permyakov was detained in the Nizhny Novgorod region east of Moscow on Saturday, hours after the explosion that wounded Prilepin and killed his friend Alexander Shubin. The Investigative Committee on Sunday published footage of Permyakov in which he confesses to the act and says he had been recruited by Ukraine’s special services in 2018.