Russian Nobel Laureate Dmitry Muratov Gets Doused With Red Paint In Train

Dmitry Muratov, a Nobel prize-winning journalist from Russia, was attacked by an assailant on a train from Moscow Thursday, his newspaper Novaya Gazeta Europe reported. Muratov, the editor-in-chief of one of Russia's leading independent newspapers Novaya Gazeta, said an assailant threw a mixture of red paint and acetone at him.

Muratov is the co-winner of the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize with Filipino journalist Maria Ressa, for his critical and investigative coverage of the Russian government.

Novaya Gazeta Europe took to Twitter and Telegram to share images of Muratov covered in red paint. The attacker said, "Muratov, here’s one for our boys," Muratov said in the tweet.

"My eyes are burning terribly. I am going to try to wash it off. There is an oil smell all over the train car. The departure of the train has already been delayed by 30 minutes," Muratov was quoted in the tweet, after the attack on a train headed to the southeastern city of Samara.

Novaya Gazeta Europe later posted a tweet that the "responsibility for the attack on Dmitry Muratov on the train was claimed by the creators of the Soyuz Z paratroopers telegram channel."

Novaya Gazeta, a leading independent Russian newspaper, was suspended operations last month after it said it received warnings from Russian authorities. According to the paper, Roskomnadzor, the state communications regulator, warned them twice. "On March 28, 2022, Novaya Gazeta was forced to suspend publication for the second time in our history and the first time since 1995. This time - because of the repressive actions of the authorities and military censorship," the tweet by the media outlet read.

Following this, the journalists of Novaya Gazeta, who were forced to leave Russia, had started Novaya Gazeta Europe, a news outlet that aims to cover news and developments in Russia and around the world in Russian and several other languages. "This is not a branch of Novaya, but an independent project, legally and factually independent," the tweet added.

Russia has tightened its censorship laws recently and has made any reference to Russia’s war on Ukraine as a "war" or "invasion,", or any reporting deemed to question the Russian military, punishable with up to 15 years in jail.

Just before Novaya Gazeta was shut down, Muratov had announced that he would donate his gold medal to help Ukrainian refugees. Muratov said he wanted to share the medal "with peaceful refugees and wounded and sick children who need emergency treatment".