Well-known Russian journalist stabbed by attacker

Associated Press

MOSCOW

A well-known journalist for Russia’s top independent radio station was stabbed in the throat Monday by an attacker who burst into her studio – the latest in a string of attacks on journalists and opposition activists in Moscow.

The assailant broke into the Ekho Moskvy offices and stabbed deputy editor Tatyana Felgenhauer, editor-in-chief Alexei Venediktov said. She is best known for co-hosting a popular morning radio show.

Felgenhauer, 32, underwent surgery at a hospital and was put in a medically induced coma as doctors determine the best course of treatment, he said.

The attacker, after being apprehended, told investigators he had been in “telepathic contact with Felgenhauer” for five years.

The station said the attack was clearly premeditated. To get into the building, the assailant sprayed gas in the face of a security guard at the entrance on the ground floor then went up to the 14th floor, where the station’s studios are.

“The man came here on purpose. He knew where he was going,” Venediktov told reporters.

While Ekho Moskvy is majority-owned by a media arm of the state-controlled Gazprom natural-gas giant, its programs have often been critical of the government, irking many in Russian political and business circles.

Its hosts and journalists have previously reported death threats.

Another popular Ekho Moskvy host, Yulia Latynina, fled Russia in September after a suspected arson attack on her car.

The Investigative Committee, the top state investigative agency that deals with high-profile crimes, identified the attacker as 48-year-old Boris Grits. It said Grits, who has Russian and Israeli citizenship, left for Israel in 2003 and came back to Moscow a month ago.