Dmitry Muratov: Russian Nobel Peace Prize-winning editor says he was attacked with red paint

Unknown person attacked him by pouring red paint into his train compartment

Nobel Peace Prize-winning Russian newspaper editor Dmitry Muratov said an unknown person attacked him by pouring red paint into his train compartment.

Muratov told Novaya Gazeta Europe, a project launched by newspaper staff after the paper suspended its operations last week under government pressure, that the assault occurred on a train heading from Moscow to Samara.

"They poured oil paint with acetone in the compartment. My eyes are burning terribly,” Muratov was quoted as saying on Novaya Gazeta's Telegram channel. He said the assailant shouted: "Muratov, here’s one for our boys.”

The post showed photos of Muratov and a train compartment drenched in red liquid. He said there was an oil smell all over the train compartment.

Novaya Gazeta, Russia's leading independent newspaper, announced on 28 March that it was suspending operations for the duration of what it referred to in quotation marks as “the special operation” in Ukraine, the term that Russian authorities insist media must use for the war in Ukraine.