A Russian journalist was in a “critical situation” after an unknown assailant on Monday pressured his manner into the workplaces of a radio station essential of the Kremlin and stabbed her within the neck.
Tatyana Felgengauer, a 32-year-old presenter for Echo of Moscow, was attacked after the suspect entered the radio station’s constructing in central Moscow and blinded the safety guard with a twig, editor-in-chief Alexei Venediktov mentioned.
“He then got here with a knife and stabbed Tanya,” Venediktov informed reporters. “There was numerous blood and he or she was in shock,” the editor mentioned, including that the attacker, who was overpowered by a safety guard, had seemed to be aiming at her.
“He knew the place he was going and he knew who he was going to. We’re all shocked.” Ida Sharapova, one other worker on the radio station, mentioned the suspect grabbed Felgengauer earlier than he stabbed her. “At first I assumed he knew her,” she informed reporters.
The Investigative Committee, which probes critical crimes, mentioned it has opened a felony case towards a 48-year-old man on suspicion of tried homicide.
Citing preliminary info, Moscow police mentioned the attacker was pushed by “private animosity” and that he was a “citizen of a overseas nation.”
Ready for operation
Venediktov mentioned he was informed “there was no menace to life however she is in a critical situation,” including that Felgengauer had been capable of get out of the constructing on her personal two ft.
“We’re ready to seek out out what’s going to occur after an operation,” he added.
He additionally mentioned that two extra individuals had been damage: the safety guard downstairs who had the substance thrown at his face and one other guard upstairs who was capable of pin the attacker down.
Radio station worker Vitaly Ruvinsky posted on Twitter a photograph of the dishevelled man wearing a black jacket and trousers seated in a chair. Police officer Yury Titov mentioned the suspect tried to cover within the constructing after he stabbed the journalist however was discovered by the safety guards.
Venediktov mentioned the person had a drawing of the workplace plan. “He had a plan of the workplace with names of rooms in English, I noticed it with my very own eyes,” he added.
Guard Aleksandr Usachyov, who had overpowered the person, additionally mentioned the person seemed to be concentrating on Felgengauer. “I grabbed his knife and pinned him to the ground,” he mentioned.
Assaults on journalists
Felgengauer is among the radio station’s deputy editors and a longtime presenter of a morning information programme. She can be actively concerned in opposition rallies and has 1000’s of followers on her public Fb web page.
The Echo of Moscow radio has been the mouthpiece of the nation’s liberal opposition because the Soviet period, with its editorial coverage ceaselessly placing it on political skinny ice.
The media outlet was based through the perestroika period because the Soviet Union’s first unbiased radio, occurring air for the primary time on August 22, 1990.
Since then the Echo of Moscow has come a good distance, turning into one of many top-cited media in Russia and by far the preferred discuss radio station, with broadcasting in most of the nation’s areas.
It’s majority owned by Gazprom Media, the media arm of Russian pure fuel big Gazprom.
Russia has a disturbing file of assaults on journalists, with 58 killed since 1992, in keeping with the Committee to Shield Journalists. Threats made towards journalists usually go unaddressed and assaults will not be investigated.
One other Echo of Moscow presenter Yulia Latynina this yr left Russia after a sequence of assaults on her automobile and residential.