MOSCOW, May 6. /TASS/. Kiev and its Western patrons, in the first place, the US are primarily responsible for the terrorist attack against writer Zakhar Prilepin, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Saturday.

"Responsibility for this and other terrorist acts lies not only with the Ukrainian authorities, but with their Western patrons, in the first place, the United States, who since the coup d'etat of February 2014 have painstakingly nurtured the anti-Russian neo-Nazi project in Ukraine," the statement reads. "The lack of Washington’s condemnation of another in a string of terrorist attacks against a Russian journalist and public figure is an act of self-exposure by the US authorities. The silence of international organizations concerned is impermissible."

"The terrorist attack against Prilepin is yet another manifestation of the systemic approach to liquidating ideological opponents, which has been actively cultivated in Ukraine by Washington since 2014 to have becoming a basic reflex of the Kiev regime," the Foreign Ministry said.

The Foreign Ministry offered condolences to the near and dear ones of the man who died in the attack and wished Prilepin a prompt recovery.

Details of terrorist attack

On Saturday morning, an explosive device went off in an Audi Q7 carrying Zakhar Prilepin. The incident occurred in the village of Pionersky, the Nizhny Novgorod Region.

The writer was wounded and his driver killed. There were no other victims, the police said.

A criminal case was launched under article 205 of the Criminal Code (an act of terrorism). Law enforcement officials told TASS that a group of saboteurs might have been behind the attack.

The investigators are probing into the complicity of a detainee, identified as Alexander Permyakov, in the assassination attempt. The suspect has testified he has been acting on instructions from Ukrainian secret services.