Russian editor says newspaper plans to arm its journalists
MOSCOW -- The editor of Russia's most prominent opposition newspaper says he intends to arm his staff with guns that fire rubber bullets amid growing concern about attacks on journalists.
Novaya Gazeta editor Dmitry Muratov discussed his plans two days after Tatiana Felgenhauer of Russia's only independent news radio station, Ekho Moskvy, was stabbed in her studio.
Muratov told the station on Thursday that the newspaper is buying "traumatic weapons" for its journalists, providing courses on how to use them and taking other unspecified security measures.
"Traumatic weapons" usually refer to pistols that fire rubber bullets.
Several Novaya Gazeta journalists have been killed or died under mysterious circumstances, including renowned Kremlin critic Anna Politkovskaya. She was shot in 2006.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday that citizens can take security measures they think are necessary.
Felgenhauer underwent surgery and was transferred to an intensive care unit, her employer said Tuesday.
Tatyana Felgenhauer, a top host and deputy editor-in-chief at Ekho Moskvy, Russia's only independent news radio station, scribbled a letter to her colleagues from her hospital bed to thank them for their support.
"I will be fine," she wrote. "I had a good sleep for the first time in my 16 years on the radio."
Felgenhauer spent hours in a medically induced coma following Monday's attack at the station's studios in central Moscow - the latest in a slew of assaults on journalists and opposition figures. Most have remained unsolved.
CCTV footage released by the radio station on Tuesday showed the attacker spraying gas into the face of a security guard in the reception area, ducking under the turnstile and running.
The Investigative Committee identified the assailant as 48-year-old Boris Grits, who holds Russian and Israeli citizenship. After being apprehended, he told investigators he had been in "telepathic contact with Felgenhauer" for five years.
