Russian Journalist and Lawyer 'Savagely' Attacked in Chechnya

Facts

• An award-winning Russian investigative journalist and a lawyer were beaten and suffered serious injuries after an attack by gunmen in the Russian republic of Chechnya this week.¹
• Elena Milashina, a journalist for the independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta — a Kremlin-critical outlet that was last year stripped of its media license — was traveling from an airport in the Chechen capital of Grozny with lawyer Alexander Nemov when their car was stopped by masked assailants early on Tuesday.²
• Both Milashina and Nemov were taken to a hospital in Grozny and a human rights group characterized the victims as "savagely" beaten. Alongside the broken fingers, Milashina was diagnosed with a closed brain injury. Photos of her shared by the Committee Against Torture also showed her covered in blue dye and with her head shaved; Nemov was meanwhile treated for a stab wound to the leg.³
• The attack on Milashina was not her first. In 2020 — after she broke the story of Chechen authorities' crackdown on gay men who had been abducted, imprisoned, and tortured — she was attacked by a mob of a dozen people, again in the Chechen capital of Grozny. Later that year, she received death threats from Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov after reporting on the severe coronavirus restrictions he imposed.⁴
• Tuesday's attack appeared to be orchestrated to prevent Milashina from reporting on the court case of Zarema Musayeva — a Chechen woman who's married to a retired federal judge accused of being disloyal to Kadyrov. Hours after the attack, Musayeva was found guilty of assaulting officials and fraud and was sentenced to five and a half years in prison.⁵
• Meanwhile, in contrast with past attacks on journalists, a range of Russian officials condemned the attack and called for a prompt investigation. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russian Pres. Putin was informed of the situation and added that "it was a very serious assault that warrants energetic measures" from law enforcement.⁶

Sources: ¹CBS, ²Al Jazeera, ³Meduza, ⁴Metro Weekly, ⁵The Moscow Times, and ⁶Associated Press.

Narratives

• Pro-Russia narrative, as provided by TASS. This is a serious attack requiring a strong response from police and officials. The relevant authorities have been briefed so that they can launch their investigations.
• Anti-Russia narrative, as provided by Associated Press. Russia is taking an unusually critical stance on this attack. Perhaps Putin and the Kremlin leadership's ties with the Chechen leader are strained and Moscow is leveraging this incident to reign him under their control.

Predictions