Russian journalist sustained a brain injury and fractures during a brutal beating in Chechnya

MOSCOW (AP) — A prominent Russian investigative reporter has received a brain injury and multiple fractures when she and a lawyer accompanying her were brutally beaten by unidentified assailants in the Russian province of Chechnya, her newspaper said Wednesday.

Novaya Gazeta journalist Elena Milashina and lawyer Alexander Nemov were attacked Tuesday soon after they arrived in Chechnya to attend the trial of the mother of two Chechen dissidents. Just outside the airport, their vehicle was blocked by three cars and a dozen unidentified masked attackers, who beat them with clubs and put guns to their heads. Milashina and Nemova were evacuated to Moscow for medical treatment later in the day.

Novaya Gazeta said that a medical examination of Milashina showed that she has sustained a brain injury and 14 fractures on her hands along with multiple other injuries. It released pictures of Milashina, showing both her hands bandaged, her face injured and her back covered by bruises from the beating.

Milashina said the assailants threatened to cut her fingers if she refused to give a password to unlock her phone and then beat her on her fingers with a plastic tube. “It was very painful. It felt like a burn,” she said in a video released by Russian rights group Team Against Torture.

The attackers also shaved her head clean and doused green antiseptic on her, Milashina said. She noted that the attackers grabbed their equipment, but didn’t touch cash and other valuables.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has described the attack as “a very serious assault that warrants energetic measures” from law enforcement agencies and noted that President Vladimir Putin was informed about it.

Alexander Bastrykin, head of the Investigative Committee, the country’s top state criminal investigation agency, ordered an investigation into the attack, and the committee’s branch in Chechnya has opened an inquiry.

Chechnya’s Moscow-backed strongman leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, who branded Milashina a “terrorist” in the past, said the regional authorities had launched an investigation and would track down the attackers.

The strong statements and a quick response from various Russian government agencies contrasted with a muted official reaction to previous attacks on Milashina and other journalists and human rights activists in Chechnya.

Milashina has long exposed human rights violations in Chechnya under Kadyrov’s watch 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 she was threatened by Chechen authorities.

The Kremlin has relied on Kadyrov to keep the North Caucasus region stable after two devastating separatist wars. International rights groups have accused his security forces of extrajudicial killings, torture and abductions of dissenters, but Russian authorities have stonewalled repeated demands to investigate and end abuses in Chechnya.

The Kremlin scrambled fighters from Chechnya to help protect Moscow from an abortive mutiny launched by mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin 11 days ago, but some commentators warned that Kadyrov’s ambitions could also potentially pose a threat to federal authorities.

Despite the Kremlin’s support, Kadyrov reportedly has had tense relations with some of Russia’s law enforcement agencies. The angry reaction from officials and Kremlin-connected lawmakers who called for a tough response could signal authorities’ intentions to cut the Chechen strongman down to size.