Dmitriy Muratov, the Russian editor in Novaya Gazeta, attacked with paint on the train

“They poured oil paint with acetone into the cabin. Muratov said in a summary report It was published late on Thursday in his newspaper.

The editor, who was on a train from Moscow to Samara, said that the unknown attacker shouted, “Muradov, here are our boys,” while throwing paint.

“The smell of oil is all over the wagon,” Muratov said in the report, which included pictures of the mess.

Later, a spokeswoman for Novaya Gazeta said that Muratov was in a “sick” condition and that he did not need to go to the hospital. “He continued his journey by train,” she said. The spokeswoman said Muradov ran after the attacker and managed to take his picture and the police came to collect information.

Facing Putin’s wartime censorship, a Nobel laureate struggles to preserve the truth in Russia

The 60-year-old dean of Russian journalism has spent decades leading Novaya Gazeta, best known for its groundbreaking investigative coverage.

In recent weeks, Russia’s new censorship laws have prompted many journalists to flee the country out of fear that they may be arrested for publishing basic facts about the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Muratov stayed and continued to publish Novaya Gazeta until March 28, when the newspaper said it halted publication because it received a second warning from Russia’s communications organization Roskomnadzor.

“There are two warnings from Roskomnadzor within a year threatening to revoke our media license,” the newspaper said.

The attack comes as prominent journalists and other public figures – particularly those critical of the Russian invasion – are facing abuse. A pile of animal droppings has appeared recently Leave Outside the door of Saint Petersburg activist Daria Khykinin, a severed pig’s head and an antisemitic slogan. Put At the door of Alexei Venediktov, editor-in-chief of the now-defunct liberal radio station Echo of Moscow. The state-owned Gazprom, which controls its board of directors, was forced to close the plant last month.

Other activists and journalists have written the word “traitor” on their doorsteps in recent weeks, along with the letter “Z”, who became a symbol Which indicates the support of the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine.

When the invasion began, Novaya Gazeta continued its usual independent coverage. “Russia is bombing Ukraine” was published in huge letters in the front of the next issue of the newspaper, which was printing the stories side by side in Russian and Ukrainian.

“We do not recognize Ukraine as the enemy or Ukrainian as the language of the enemy,” Muratov said in his video at the time. “We will never do that.”

But a week later, Russia adopted a law that threatened up to 15 years in prison for spreading it What Russia calls “fake” news. About the country’s army. Among other things, censorship means that the Russian media cannot call the war a war – only a “special military operation”.

Novaya Gazeta continued to publish, explaining to her readers that she had to censor her reports. She strayed from the word “war”, sometimes using the sign <…> Instead of that.

She continued to publish important works, including a a story About civilian deaths in the Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv, by private correspondent Elena Kostyoshenko, who visited the mortuary and found the bodies of two sisters, 17 and 3, stacked together in the refrigerator.

Photos of the corpses ran with the story. In an accompanying video, Kostyuchenko said to the camera: “I personally saw these bodies.”

Notable Russians were attacked with paint, including opposition politician Alexei Navalny, who was dipped twice with dye in 2017. Navalny later suffered a near-fatal poisoning with a military-grade nerve agent named Novichok that he and Two independent UN rights experts Blame the Russian state. Russia denied responsibility for the attack.

Muratov and fellow Filipino editor Maria Ressa were co-winners of Nobel Peace Prize last yearfor their work amid authoritarian pressures in their country.