His grand-uncle Ivan Prokhanov was a leader of the All-Russian Union of Evangelican Christians (1908–1928) and the one-time vice-President of the Baptist World Alliance who left the USSR in 1928 and died as an emigré.

[6] In the late 1960s he started writing essays and reports for numerous magazines (Krugozor, Smena, Selskaya Molodyozh), later citing Andrei Platonov and Vladimir Nabokov as major influences.

[10] As a foreign correspondent, Prokhanov visited Afghanistan, Nicaragua, Cambodia, Angola, and Ethiopia, these assignments providing him with material for future literary work.

Sporting the subheading "Organ of the spiritual opposition", it became arguably the most radical Russian newspaper continually challenging Boris Yeltsin and his team of liberal reformers.

Regarded by Prokhanov as the "patriotic alternative" to pro-liberal, nomenclature-led Literaturnaya Gazeta, Den managed to attract authors from the conflicting flanks of the Russian opposition movement, united by their hatred of the liberal reforms but divided in their attitude towards Communism.

The publication of the manifest brought about the rift between Prokhanov and General Alexander Rutskoy (whom he once helped to be rescued from captivity in Afghanistan and later backed his election campaign).

[10] During the September 1993 Russian constitutional crisis, Den became a mouthpiece for the radical opposition and Prokhanov gained notoriety as a harsh critic of Yeltsin.

[11][13][15] In the mid-2000s, writing several books a year (including numerous re-makes of his best-known 20th-century work), Prokhanov became an omnipresent character of the Russian media, frequenting TV talk shows and disputes as a token "opposition's spiritual leader".

"The theme of Russia and Russian people for Prokhanov is not a vogue, but part of his very soul; this young author's prose is incredibly sincere," Yury Trifonov commented in a foreword.

The Tree in the Center of Kabul (1982), the Campuchea chronicles Hunter of the Isles (1983), the Africanist (1984) and the Nicaraguan epic And Then Comes the Wind (1984) formed "The Burning Gardens" tetralogy, all four novels characterized by dynamic action, over-the-top style of language and idealized, heroic protagonists.

[17] Among Prokhanov's well-known work of the time were novellas "Polina" (1976), "The Unseen Corn" (1976), "By The Moon-Ray", "Snow and Coal" (both 1977), "Grey-Haired Soldier" (1985), and "The Armourer (1986), as well as short novels The Admiral (1983) and Lighter Than Asure (1986).

[17] Mr. Hexogen (2001), a surrealist thriller telling the story of a joint Russian secret services and oligarchs' plot aimed at wiping out the existing political elite via blowing up houses, has been compared to Dostoevsky's Demons.

[21] His 2005 novel Political Scientist featured a character named Dyshlov, a thinly veiled caricature of Zyuganov whom Prokhanov has been completely disillusioned with recently and holds responsible for the inefficiency of the Russian left.

Defunct A controversial figure, Prokhanov is seen in Russia by some as an original author sporting "a rare combination of postmodernist ethics and imperialist agenda,"[24] and by others as a purveyor of extremist nationalistic views which formed the ideological platform of Zavtra, the ultra-conservative newspaper he's been the leader of since 1993.

[10] In 1991, during the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic presidential election, Prokhanov worked for the campaign of General Albert Makashov, an ultra-conservative candidate.

[25][26] On 4 October 1993, the Ministry of Justice of Russia ordered a stop to the editorial and publishing activity of the newspaper Day; its office was raided by OMON, archive files and property was confiscated, staff members were physically assaulted.

[27] In 2003, Prokhanov, Boris Berezovsky, and Viktor Alksnis issued a joint statement concerning the Nord Ost terrorist attack, blaming the Russian authorities for the heavy loss of life and accusing Vladimir Putin of inefficiency.

Also in 2003, Berezovsky and Prokhanov issued another joint memorandum, this time blaming the authorities for the murder of Sergei Yushenkov, and warning the people against the "great dangers coming from the Kremlin.

[30] During the 2014 conflict in Ukraine, Prokhanov praised the Prime Minister of the self-proclaimed pro-Russian Donetsk People's Republic Alexander Borodai as a "true White Russian nationalist".

[31] In November 2014, a Russian court ordered Prokhanov to pay 500 thousand rubles to Andrey Makarevich whom he falsely accused (in the Izvestia-published article) of entertaining paratroopers in Sloviansk ("where he was heard by people in basements with broken hands and put out eyes") while the singer in fact performed in Sviatohirsk, singing for refugees.