The attack came days after Muratov, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, was forced to suspend the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta until the end of Russia’s war with Ukraine. “They threw oil paint with acetone on the case. “My eyes are burning terribly,” Muratov said in a brief statement published in his newspaper late Thursday. The author, who was on a train from Moscow to Samara, said the unknown perpetrator shouted, “Muratov, here is one for our boys,” as he threw the paint. “The whole car smells like oil,” Muratov said in the report, which included photos from the chaos. A Novaya Gazeta spokeswoman later said Muratov was in “satisfactory” condition and did not need to go to hospital. “He continued his journey by train,” he said. Muratov ran after the perpetrator and managed to take his picture and police came to gather information, the spokeswoman said. ΆAn unknown person attacked the editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta and Nobel Peace Prize winner Dmitry Muratov right in the train car pic.twitter.com/xrhR62zJts – Novaya Gazeta. Europe (@novayagazeta_eu) April 7, 2022 Faced with Putin’s wartime censorship, Nobel laureate struggles to keep truth alive in Russia The 60-year-old dean of Russian journalism spent decades at the helm of Novaya Gazeta, which became known for its groundbreaking research coverage. In recent weeks, new censorship laws in Russia have prompted many journalists to flee the country for fear of being arrested for reporting key facts about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Muratov remained and continued to publish the Novaya Gazeta until March 28, when the newspaper reported that he had suspended the publication because he had received a second warning from the Russian communications regulator Roskomnadzor. “Two warnings from Roskomnadzor in a year threaten to revoke the media license,” the newspaper said. The attack comes as other prominent journalists and public figures – especially those critical of the Russian invasion – are also being mistreated. A pile of animal feces was recently left outside the door of St. Petersburg activist Daria Kheikinen, and a severed pig’s head and an anti-Semitic slogan were placed at the door by Alexei Venediktov, editor-in-chief of the disbanded liberal Echo of Moscow radio station. The station was forced to close last month by state-owned Gazprom, which controlled its board. Other activists and journalists have painted the word “traitor” on their front doors in recent weeks, along with the letter “G”, which has become a symbol of support for the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine. When the invasion began, Novaya Gazeta continued its usual independent coverage. “Russia Bombs Ukraine” was circulated in huge letters in the front of the next issue of the newspaper, which printed side-by-side stories in Russian and Ukrainian. “We do not recognize Ukraine as an enemy or Ukrainian as an enemy language,” Muratov said in a video at the time. “And we will never do that.” But a week later, Russia passed a law that threatened up to 15 years in prison for publishing what Russia calls “fake” news about its military. Among other things, censorship means that the Russian media can not call war a war – just a “special military operation.” Novaya Gazeta continued to publish, making it clear to its readers that it was forced to censor its reports. He left the word “war”, sometimes using the sign <…>. He went on to publish an important work, including a story about the deaths of civilians in the Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv, by Special Correspondent Elena Kostyuchenko, who visited the morgue and found the bodies of two brothers, a 17-year-old and a 3-year-old, stacked in the refrigerator. The photos of the bodies ran with the story. In an accompanying video, Kostyuchenko told the camera: “I personally saw these bodies.” Other prominent Russians were attacked with paint, including opposition politician Alexei Navalny, who was twice sprayed with paint in 2017. Navalny later suffered a near-fatal poisoning with a nerve-wracking military agent named Novichok for himself. two independent experts on UN rights for the Russian state. Russia has denied responsibility for the attack. Muratov and author Maria Ressa from the Philippines were Nobel Peace Prize winners last year for their work amid authoritarian pressure in their countries.
