A Russian nationalist writer has joined a band of Kremlin-backed fighters in the Donbas, and says his ultimate goal is to march on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, Russian media have reported.
Russian writer Zakhar Prilepin, 41, in an interview published on the website of Russian newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda on Feb. 13, which was reposted by Prilepin’s official website, said that he had decided to fight in Ukraine “for the future of Russia.”
“If we can accomplish something here, we will be successful in all spheres, in all directions,” he said.
Prilepin, whose real first name is Yevgenii, previously served in Russia’s OMON riot police unit. He said that many of his friends in Russia were ready to join his band of fighters.
According to the Komsomolskaya Pravda, one squad of Prilepin’s band of fighters is to fight near Kominternove, a Ukrainian village in Donetsk Oblast 800 kilometers southeast from Kyiv.
Kominternove is located in the so-called gray zone, under the control neither of Ukrainian forces, nor Russian-backed fighters.
Prilepin also said the final goal of his military activity would be to take over Kyiv.
“Kyiv is a Russian city. A Russian-Ukrainian city. Our job is small. The powers above will decide,” he said. “The whole of Ukraine is the goal. There can’t be any other goal.”
Prilepin said he loved the Ukrainian culture and language, but said only Russia could help Ukraine preserve them.
In the last couple of years, Prilepin has been an advisor to the leaders of the Russian-led fighters in Donetsk Oblast. However, the writer is not on the official list of personae non gratae published on the website of Ukraine’s Culture Ministry. The press-service told the Kyiv Post they have not yet received any new instructions in this regard from Ukraine’s SBU security service.
The SBU spokespeople were not available for comment as this report went to press.
Oleksandr Krasovytskyy, who heads Ukrainian Folio publishing house, told the Kyiv Post that Prilepin had been relevant as a writer for the Ukrainian market – but only before the EuroMaidan Revolution and Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.
“He has attended the Lviv Publisher’s Forum, and we at Folio were planning to translate his books and bring them to Ukraine,” Krasovytskyy said.
“But I think this topic is closed forever. I don’t think the Ukrainian market is now interested in his books one little bit.”
