Masked assailants attack journalist and lawyer in Russia’s Chechnya province

Unidentified masked assailants in the Russian province of Chechnya attacked and beat a journalist and a lawyer.

It was an assault that highlights a violent pattern of rampant human rights abuses in the region.

Novaya Gazeta journalist Elena Milashina and lawyer Alexander Nemov had just arrived in Chechnya to attend the trial of Zarema Musayeva, the mother of two local activists who have challenged Chechen authorities.

Just outside the airport, their vehicle was blocked by several cars and they were beaten by several masked assailants, who put guns to their heads and broke their equipment.

Novaya Gazeta said Ms Milashina sustained a brain injury and had several fingers broken, while Mr Nemov had a deep cut on his leg.

They were taken to a hospital in Chechnya’s main city, Grozny, where Ms Milashina repeatedly lost consciousness, according to her newspaper.

Speaking from a hospital bed in a video, Ms Milashina said the attack looked like a “classic abduction”.

“They threw the driver out of the car, got in, bent our heads down, tied my hands, forced me down to my knees and put a gun to my head,” she said, adding that the assailants were visibly nervous and had trouble tying her hands.

A photograph from a hospital showed her talking over the phone, with green antiseptic covering her face and multiple bruises on her shaven head.

Officials are considering the pair’s medical evacuation to Moscow.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in a conference call with reporters that Russian President Vladimir Putin was informed about the incident.

Mr Peskov said “it was a very serious assault that warrants energetic measures” from law enforcement agencies.

Russian human rights ombudsperson Tatyana Moskalkova asked investigators to look into the assault.

The Russian Ministry for Digital Development and Mass Communications denounced the “monstrous assault” and said it will offer them the necessary assistance.

The ministry said it has urged law enforcement agencies to thoroughly investigate the attack and punish the perpetrators.

The strong statements from Russian authorities contrasted with a muted official response to previous attacks on Ms Milashina and other journalists and human rights activists who have exposed human rights abuses in Chechnya.

Ms Milashina has long exposed human rights violations in Chechnya and has faced threats, intimidation and attacks.

In 2020, she and a lawyer accompanying her were beaten by a dozen people in the lobby of their hotel.

Last year, she temporarily left Russia after being threatened by Chechen authorities.

She has won a broad acclaim for her investigative reporting, which included exposing the torture and killings of gay people in Chechnya and other abuses by feared Chechen paramilitary forces.

In 2013, she received an International Women of Courage Award from the US Department of State.

Hours after Tuesday’s attack on Ms Milashina and Mr Nemov, a court in Grozny sentenced Zarema Musayeva to five-and-a-half years in prison on charges of insulting and violently resisting police, an accusation that rights groups have rejected as trumped-up.

Ms Musayeva had been in custody in Grozny since Chechen security forces grabbed her from her home in the Volga River city of Nizhny Novgorod and drove her to Chechnya in January 2022.

Her husband, a former judge, and her two activist sons have left Chechnya.

Chechnya’s strongman regional leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, has accused the Musayev family of having terrorist links and said that they should be imprisoned or killed.

The Kremlin has relied on Mr Kadyrov to keep the North Caucasus region stable after two devastating separatist wars.

International rights groups have accused Mr Kadyrov’s feared security forces of extrajudicial killings, torture and abductions of dissenters.

His clout has risen since the start of Moscow’s campaign in Ukraine, where his security forces have taken active part.

Repeated demands by international human rights groups to end abuses in Chechnya have been stonewalled by Russian authorities.

Despite the Kremlin’s support, Mr Kadyrov has reportedly had tense relations with some of Russia’s law enforcement agencies.

The angry reaction from officials and Kremlin-connected politicians could signal authorities’ intentions to cut the Chechen strongman down to size.

Andrei Klishas, head of the constitutional affairs committee in the upper house, said the attack on Ms Milashina and Mr Nemov warrants a “tough response” from the law enforcement agencies.

Another senior politician, Alexander Khinshtein, denounced it as “criminal” and urged prosecutors to prioritise the case.