The editor-in-chief of a newspaper critical of the Kremlin, Dmitry Muratov, was attacked on a train with a bag of paint, apparently because of the reporting on the Ukraine war. The search for the perpetrators is ongoing.
The Russian Nobel Peace Prize winner Dmitri Muratov claims he was attacked by an unknown perpetrator and showered with red paint on a train. The Kremlin-critical newspaper “Novaya Gazeta” published a photo of its editor-in-chief on Thursday, whose face, upper body and arms were covered with red oil paint. “The eyes burn terribly,” said Muratov in the short message service Twitter.
Ukraine war: Editor-in-chief of newspaper critical of the Kremlin attacked with paint
The 60-year-old was on the Moscow-Samara train when he was attacked by a man. “He yelled: ‘Muratov, take this for our boys’,” the journalist continued. The train smells of oil paint and the departure is delayed. “I’m trying to wash it off,” reported Muratov. The concrete background to the attack was unclear – Muratov also showed his sleeping car compartment spattered with red paint. There was probably a connection with Russia’s war in Ukraine, in which many soldiers have already died.
Journalists critical of the government are repeatedly the target of attacks in Russia. Employees of the newspaper “Novaya Gazeta” run by Muratov were also murdered, such as the journalists Anna Politkovskaya and Natalya Estemirova, who both died from gunshots. Muratov had always emphasized not to be intimidated.
Russian authorities have launched a manhunt
According to the latest information, police forces have initiated a search for suspects. This was reported by the Russian agency Interfax, citing the press service of a traffic department of the Russian Ministry of the Interior on Friday night. According to this, employees of the traffic police organized measures to identify and arrest two men.
According to the Ministry of the Interior, when the passengers boarded at the Kazan train station in Moscow, two men wearing medical masks got into the carriage, who said they were escorts to the conductor, it said. Then someone entered the compartment and poured red paint over the passenger. Immediately afterwards, the two men ran onto the platform and disappeared, Interfax quoted the press service as saying.
Publication of “Novaya Gazeta” suspended for the time being
The publication of Novaya Gazeta was recently suspended due to pressure from Russian authorities until the war in Ukraine was ended. Muratov had publicly criticized Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine.
After the enactment of a new law restricting freedom of the press and freedom of expression in Russia, the newspaper refrained from writing about a “war”. The word is outlawed in Russia in connection with the invasion of Ukraine. However, “Novaya Gazeta” has recently published large reports on the suffering of the people in the course of the war.
Source: Stern
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