Another Kremlin critic survives an attack
MOSCOW — Prominent Russian blogger Yegor Zhukov was beaten near his Moscow home late Sunday in the latest attack on a prominent critic of President Vladimir Putin.
Zhukov was beaten in the head and face by two thugs waiting near his apartment who escaped on scooters.
The attack came weeks after opposition leader Alexei Navalny was poisoned during a trip to Siberia, falling ill on an Aug. 20 flight before being evacuated to Germany two days later for medical treatment. He remains in a coma and is expected to survive, although doctors have said the long-term impact is not clear.
It also comes amid a crackdown by authorities on activists, bloggers and journalists in recent weeks.
German doctors have confirmed Navalny had symptoms of poisoning, likely by a cholinesterase inhibitor, which includes highly toxic chemical nerve agents and pesticides. German tests have not identified the poison.
It is not the first attack on Zhukov. He reported an attempted assault near his home in late July, saying he managed to escape without injury.
Zhukov’s press secretary, Stanislav Toporkov, said Monday that Zhukov was examined in the hospital and allowed to go home, where he was recovering.
“Yegor is at home now with his parents. The MRI showed that he does not have any serious brain injuries or internal hemorrhaging. He’s sleeping now after a rough night,” he said.
Zhukov, a libertarian who frequently criticizes Putin, was arrested last year and jailed for a month, accused of helping direct a mass protest in Moscow on July 27, 2019, in support of opposition candidates barred from running for Moscow’s city council. Riot police arrested more than 1,300 protesters, some of whom were given jail sentences of four or five years.
But after video appeared to show a case of mistaken identity, police dropped the charges, before leveling a more serious charge of extremism related to his blog. He was given a suspended three-year sentence last year and banned from blogging, although he continues to do so.
Zhukov’s persecution has only won him more followers. His YouTube channel now has 226,000 subscribers, compared with 100,000 a year ago, and more than 17 million views, making him a thorn in the Kremlin’s side.
Police have opened a case investigating the crime, in contrast to the Navalny case.
“I have not suffered any property damage, but my face is broken and I feel very bad. I believe that the attackers attempted to cause serious harm to my health, for this purpose they inflicted multiple blows on my head, including after I fell to the ground,” Zhukov’s statement to police said, according to independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta.
Pro-Kremlin media played down the attack. A report in Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper said, “the attack itself looks more like hooliganism. The blogger’s injuries are minor. He did not need hospitalization.”
Putin’s spokesman said there was no link between the attack on Zhukov and Navalny’s situation.
“I wouldn’t make any connections there. We don’t know who beat up Zhukov, and we don’t know why, but we do know that officers of law enforcement are conducting inquiries,” Dmitry Peskov told reporters Monday. “We hope that those responsible will be identified and punished in accordance with the law.”.
The attack came hours after Zhukov posted a video on his YouTube channel reporting that he had been admitted to study at the prestigious Moscow School for Higher Economics, only to see his admission abruptly withdrawn just 90 minutes later.