Russian journalist describes beating as "assassination attempt"

In yesterday's New York Times, Russian journalist Oleg Sulkin described how he was attacked and beaten in Moscow by two unknown assailants armed with steel rods. The attack took place a few feet from the entrance to Sulkin's house, a ten-minute walk from the Kremlin. One month later, he is still in hospital with an amputated finger, a broken leg, and a double-break to his jaw. He will not be able to work again until spring.

"A few hours after the attack, President Dmitri Medvedev went on Twitter to declare his outrage," Sulkin wrote, "and he instructed Russia’s law enforcement agencies to make every effort to investigate this crime. But no one has been apprehended, and I do not expect that the two young men will ever be identified or caught."

Sulkin wrote that he believes the attack was "an assassination attempt" from one of three possible sources aggrieved about his reporting. These are the municipal government of Khimki, the governor of the region of Pskov, and the extreme right youth movement Nashi, criticized by Sulkin after its appearance "on the public scene has accompanied a new level, and acceptance, of violence in Russian politics".

He wrote that "Nashi is closely tied to the Kremlin, which founded the group five years ago in response to fears that Ukraine’s Orange Revolution could inspire similar uprisings in Russia. When newspapers reported that Vasily Yakemenko, its former leader and now the minister for youth affairs, might have been involved in the attack on me, he was granted an unscheduled meeting with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Was this meant to show that the authorities didn’t share such a suspicion — or that they didn’t care whether the accusation was true?"

"What strikes me about the theories is that, in each case, the ultimate perpetrator is the state," Sulkin continued. "And for some reason that seems acceptable to most Russians: practically no one here has questioned the right of the state to resort to extra-legal violence to maintain power, even against journalists."

Full article here.