Nizhny Novgorod governor visits Zakhar Prilepin in hospital following assassination attempt

Gleb Nikitin, the governor of Russia’s Nizhny Novgorod region, posted on Telegram about visiting the nationalist writer-turned-politician Zakhar Prilepin in hospital.

Prilepin is recovering after an assassination attempt that killed his driver and left the writer himself in critical condition. In a video posted by the governor, Prilepin says from his hospital bed: “Here we are, working bit by bit. Victory shall be ours. We’ve prevailed before, and we’ll go on prevailing. All that is evil will be defiled and trampled.”

Nikitin writes that Prilepin is “feeling well” and that his recovery is “on track.” How reliable this information might be is unclear. Right after the car bombing, Nikitin had similarly reported that Prilepin was fine. Later, he said that his injuries weren’t dangerous. At the same time, Interfax cited informed sources who said that Prilepin was in critical condition, and that his injuries were too severe to try flying him to Moscow.