ST. PETERSBURG, May 11. /TASS/. The man charged with trying to kill Russian writer Zakhar Prilepin did not act on his own and efforts are underway to ascertain who helped him, Russian Investigative Committee Chairman Alexander Bastrykin said on Thursday.

"He did not act alone. He was the perpetrator [of the attack]. We are working to establish his accomplices," he told a committee-hosted session of the St. Petersburg International Legal Forum.

According to Bastrykin, the perpetrator underwent special training. The top investigator did not disclose any other details as the investigation is still ongoing.

On May 6, Zakhar Prilepin’s car was blown up in the Pionersky settlement in Russia’s Nizhny Novgorod Region. The incident left the writer wounded and killed his driver and security guard Alexander Shubin, who had served with Prilepin before and after the launch of Russia’s special military operation, including in the Oplot Battalion of the Russian National Guard. A man by the name of Alexander Permyakov, detained on suspicion of being involved in the crime, testified to having acted on instructions from Ukrainian intelligence agencies.