TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Russian state news agency Tass says the car of a prominent pro-Kremlin novelist exploded in Russia on Saturday, injuring him and killing his driver. The agency cited emergency and law enforcement officials. The incident involving the car of Zakhar Prilepin, a well-known nationalist writer and an ardent supporter of what the Kremlin calls “a special military operation” in Ukraine, took place in the region of Nizhny Novgorod, about 400 kilometers (250 miles) east of Moscow. Prilepin became a supporter of Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2014, after Putin illegally annexed the Crimean peninsula. He was involved in the conflict in eastern Ukraine on the side of Russia-backed separatists. Last year, he was sanctioned by the European Union.