The independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta reported that their editor-in-chief, Nobel Prize winner Dmitry Muratov, had been attacked in Russia.

The attack is said to have occurred on a train from Moscow to Samara on Thursday evening Norwegian time.

“Unidentified persons attacked the editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta and Nobel laureate Dmitry Muratov in the train compartment.” write a newspaper on Twitter.

“It’s very burnt”

Avisa also shared two photos. They showed Muratov soaked in red paint inside what looked like a toilet on a train, and the train compartment, which had also been soaked in red paint.

He (the attacker, journ.anm.) threw oil paint with acetone into the passenger compartment. It really burns in the eyes, Muratov told the Novaya Gazeta.

The editor-in-chief said the assailant shouted at him when he threw paint.

– “Muratov, this is for you for your son”, said Muratov.

Muratov further said that the entire compartment reeks of oil, and that the departure of the train to Samara, which lies along the banks of the Volga in southern Russia, “has been delayed by 30 minutes”.

– I tried to wash (paint, journ.anm), said Muratov.

Censored and molested

Novaya Gazeta is a small independent Russian newspaper, but by Russian standards, since its founding in 1993 it has become one of Russia’s most important media outlets.

Avisa was partly owned by Mikhail Gorbachev, the last general secretary of the Soviet Union, and thus owned everything protection against censorship and means of power of the Russian authorities.

Avisa still pays dearly for its investigative journalists. A total of seven journalists for the newspaper have been killed since 2000. In the same year, Vladimir Putin won his first presidential election.

In late March, the newspaper decided to stop its activities as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, after receiving warnings from Russian authorities.