Well-known Moscow journalist stabbed at work, put in coma

MOSCOW - The Associated Press

A well-known journalist for Russia's top independent radio station was stabbed in the throat Monday by an unidentified 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 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.

Ekho Moskvy's 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 following a suspected arson attack on her car.

The Investigative Committee, deals with high-profile crimes, said it is treating Monday's attack as an attempted murder. The spokesman for the Russian Prosecutor General's Office described the attack as "outrageous" and said its prosecutors will investigate the case closely.

Moscow police said the attacker had a personal grudge against Felgenhauer. It released a brief video, in which the attacker told investigators that he had a "telepathic contact" with Felgenhauer since 2012 and claiming the journalist was "haunting" him.

State-owned Russian media have long targeted Ekho Moskvy for its critical reporting.

The state television channel Rossiya 24 put out a report two weeks ago that described the station as an "arm of the U.S. State Department," saying it gets paid for "destabilizing society" ahead of Russia's presidential election in March.

Columnist Oleg Kashin, who survived in a brutal attack in 2010 that was never properly investigated, told the Dozhd television station that Felgenhauer's "blood is on the hands of people from Rossiya 24, too."

Dmitry Muratov, editor-in-chief of the Novaya Gazeta newspaper, says the failure of Russian authorities to respond to the recurrent attacks and threats against independent journalists, activists and opposition leaders have made such attacks possible.