Russian Politician Prilepin Says He Drove Car During Blast

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Russian politician and writer Zakhar Prilepin on Sunday gave his firsthand account of the tragic car bombing attack, saying that he had been driving the vehicle when the blast had occurred, while his deceased associate Alexander Shubin had been in a front passenger seat.

On Saturday, Prilepin's car was blown up on a highway in Russia's Nizhny Novgorod Region. Shubin was killed, while Prilepin, the co-chairman of the political party A Just Russia — For Truth, was injured. The Russian Investigative Committee said that Alexander Permyakov, the detained suspect in the assassination attempt on Prilepin, admitted during interrogation that he had acted on the instructions of the Ukrainian special services, having planted an explosive device along the car's path.

"Sasha [Alexander Shubin] was on the right in a passenger seat. I was driving. The explosion happened under his wheel. I lost consciousness for three minutes, came round and crawled up to the broken windshield," Prilepin said on Telegram.

He added that he had both legs broken in the blast, with one open fracture, as well as other injuries.

Prilepin also specified that two mines had been planted at the scene, but only one had detonated.

The politician thanked everyone who had supported him and prayed for him after the attack.