Russian Nobel Laureate Says He Was Attacked With Paint on Moscow Train

Dmitry Muratov, the editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta, Nobel Prize laureate, and one of the last well-known independent journalists in Russia, said an unknown assailant attacked him on a train on April 7 by throwing red paint over him and his cabin.

Photos showing Muratov and his compartment doused in paint were published by Novaya Gazeta, which on March 28 had been forced to suspend operations in Russia after receiving warnings from authorities over its coverage of the war in Ukraine. The closure came after the Kremlin introduced harsh punishments for media who describe the war in Ukraine as a “war” instead of Moscow’s preferred “special military operation.”

According to Novaya Gazeta, Muratov said he had boarded a train at Moscow’s Kazansky railway station when an attacker threw “oil paint with acetone” into his compartment, causing his eyes to burn “terribly.”

Storyful could not independently verify the details of the incident.

Though Russian state media reported Muratov’s claims, Russian authorities had not commented on the incident at the time of writing.

Muratov and Filipino journalist Maria Ressa were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021 “for their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression, which is a precondition for democracy and lasting peace,” the Nobel committee said.

“Under Mr Muratov’s leadership, Novaya Gazeta has criticised the Russian authorities for corruption, electoral fraud and human rights violations. Six of the newspaper’s journalists have been murdered because they wrote critical articles on Russian military operations in Chechnya and the Caucasus,” the committee wrote. Credit: Novaya Gazeta via Storyful

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