Zakhar Prilepin

Yevgeny Nikolayevich Prilepin (Russian: Евге́ний Никола́евич Приле́пин; born 7 July 1975), writing as Zakhar Prilepin (Russian: Захар Прилепин), and sometimes using another pseudonym, Yevgeny Lavlinsky (Russian: Евгений Лавлинский), is a Russian writer and leader of the political party "For Truth" from 1 February 2020.

Previously he was a member of Russia's unregistered National Bolshevik Party from 1996 to 2019.

Biography

Yevgeny Prilepin was born 7 July 1975 in the village of Ilyinka, Ryazan Oblast, in the family of a teacher and a nurse. His family lived there until 1984, when they moved to Dzerzhinsk. He started working at age 16 as a loader in a bread shop. He graduated from the Faculty of Philology of the Nizhny Novgorod State University and the School of Public Policy. He worked as a laborer, a security guard, and served as a squad leader in the Russian police group OMON, and subsequently took part in the fighting in Chechnya in 1996 and 1999.

In 1999, due to financial difficulties, Prilepin left OMON and got a job as a journalist in the Nizhny Novgorod newspaper "Delo". He published under many pseudonyms, the most famous of which is "Eugene Lavlinsky". In 2000, he became editor of the newspaper. At the same time, Prilepin began to work on his first novel, "The Pathologies".

"The newspaper, however, was horrible yellow and sometimes even reactionary, although it was part of the holding of Sergei Kiriyenko. And I realized that I spent a life for nothing – and began to write a novel. At first, it was a novel about love, but eventually (I worked three or four years), it has turned into a novel about Chechnya as about the most powerful experience of my life – as the saying goes, what we are doing always turns out to a Kalashnikov rifle."

Works by Prilepin were published in various newspapers, including "Limonka," "Literary Gazette," "The Edge," "General Line," as well as in the magazines "North," "Friendship of Peoples," "Roman-gazeta," "New World," "Snob," "Russian pioneer," and "Russian life." He was the chief editor of the NBP Nizhny Novgorod "People's Observer". He participated in a seminar of young writers Moscow – Peredelkino (February 2004) and in IV, V, VI Forum of Young Writers in Moscow, Russia. He is a member of the ideological think tank the Izborsk Club.

Prilepin was a member of the banned Russian National Bolshevik Party and a supporter of the coalition The Other Russia, and took part in the organization of the Nizhny Novgorod March Dissenters 24 March 2007. In July 2012, he published a short essay titled "A Letter to Comrade Stalin," a Stalinist critique aimed against modern Russian "liberal society", which was widely regarded as antisemitic.

The media has repeatedly mentioned Prilepin's friendship with Vladislav Surkov, whose cousin is married to Prilepin's sister, Elena.

In February 2017, Prilepin gave a lengthy interview, in which he revealed that he was leading a volunteer battalion in the self-proclaimed People's Republic of Donetsk. The battalion was the 4th Reconnaissance and Assault Battalion of the Special Forces of the Armed forces of DNR, commonly known as Prilepin's Battalion; Prilepin claimed it had been created in July 2016 on his initiative and announced "we will ride on a white horse into any town we've abandoned." Prilepin further said he was second in command with the rank of a major. Prilepin was an influential figure and a celebrity in the DNR and the concept of Malorossiya was seemingly created by him. In late July 2018, Prilepin returned "demobilized" to Moscow; the battalion he had served in was disbanded in September 2018. In an interview with the Russian news outlet Znak.com on 15 August 2019 Prilepin claimed that the battallion had killed more Ukrainians than any other which, however, has been disputed. He is wanted on terrorism charges in Ukraine, and was denied entry by Bosnia-Herzegovina for security reasons.

On 29 November 2018, he joined the All-Russian People's Front. Because of this, he was excluded from The Other Russia political party by its founder Eduard Limonov, who had earlier, together with party members, told Prilepin to make a choice between the two groups and political structures.

On 29 October 2019, he created the public movement "For Truth" (За правду). He intends for the movement to be transformed into political party that will participate in the 2021 legislative election. The party merged into A Just Russia in February 2021.

Influences

Prilepin admires Soviet novelist Leonid Leonov. Prilepin is the author of Leonov's biography.

Prilepin expressed that his favorite authors are Gaito Gazdanov, Romain Gary, Boris Zaytsev, Thomas Mann, Henry Miller, Anatoly Marienhof, Vladimir Nabokov, Eduard Limonov, Alexander Prokhanov, Jonathan Franzen, Mikhail Sholokhov. He lists among his favorite poetry the Silver Age of Russian Poetry, Latin American poetry and modern Greek poetry. Prilepin expressed that his favorite poet is Sergei Yesenin

Personal life

Prilepin is married to a woman named Maria and has two sons and two daughters: Gleb, Ignat, Kira, and Lilia. The family also has a dog named Bumblebee. Prilepin lives in Nizhny Novgorod. He also has a sister, Elena, who lives with their mother in Dzerzhinsk. His father died in 1994.

Bibliography

Novels

• Санькя – Sankya, Novel. Ad Marginem, Moscow 2006, 280 pages
• Патологии – The Pathologies, Novel. Andreevsky Flag, Moscow 2005, 250 pages
• Грех – Sin. Vargius, Moscow 2007
• Чёрная обезьяна (Black ape) AST, Moscow 2012
• Обитель. (Abode) AST, Moscow 2014

Stories

• Ботинки, полные горячей водкой. (Shoes filled with hot vodka) AST, Moscow 2008
• Война. (A war) AST, Moscow 2008
• Революция. (Revolution) AST, Moscow2009

Essays

• Я пришёл из России. (I came from Russia) Moscow 2008
• Terra Tartarara. Это касается лично меня" (сборник эссе). (Terra Tartarara. It's personally about me) AST, Moscow 2009
• Летучие бурлаки. (Flying burlaks) AST, Moscow 2014

Other

• Леонид Леонов: Игра его была огромна. (Leonid Leonov: His play was great) Molodaya Gvardiya, Moscow 2010
• Книгочёт. (The Bookgazer) Astrel, Moscow 2012
• Именины сердца. Разговоры с русской литературой. (Heart's birthday. The talk with Russian literature) AST, Moscow 2009