A well-known Russian journalist is in critical condition after she was stabbed at her Moscow radio station Monday, less than two weeks after a state-owned television program called the radio station a “foreign agent.”
Tatiana Felgenhauer is the deputy editor in chief and co-host of a popular morning show for the station Echo of Moscow, which the New York Times describes as Russia’s most prominent talk radio station, and which is known for independent journalism and critiquing the Kremlin. The attacker broke into the building, pepper-sprayed a security guard, broke into the studio, and stabbed Felgenhauer in the throat, according to the Guardian. After the attack, two security guards tackled the assailant, and he is now in custody.
The station’s editor in chief told the Guardian that doctors operated on Felganhauer for more than an hour, but they said her life is not in immediate danger.
Russian authorities identified the attacker as a 48-year-old man who said he believed Felganhauer made contact with him telepathically over the years, according to the Guardian. Some Russian media reported the attack was motivated by derangement or sexual motives, while other Russian media suggested there was a “personal” motivation, according to the Times.
The station’s editor in chief, however, said there were still questions about the attacker’s motivations, and he cited recent threats and attacks on journalists in Russia. The station’s journalists often receive death threats, according to the Times, and Felganhauer had been singled out in the state-owned television report as a foreign agent who championed “pro-Western positions” and “anti-government policies.”
