Toxic Paint Attack on Anti-Kremlin Nobel Laureate Was Masterminded by Russian Intelligence, U.S. Says
‘HERE’S ONE FOR OUR BOYS’
Dmitry Muratov, the editor of an independent Russian newspaper and outspoken critic of the Ukraine invasion, was doused in red paint laced with acetone earlier this month.
Weeks after the editor of a pro-democracy Russian newspaper was doused in red paint laced with acetone, chemically burning his eyes, the U.S. government has concluded that the attack was planned by Russian intelligence, according to The Washington Post. In a statement to the Post published Thursday, an unnamed official said that they could “confirm that Russian intelligence orchestrated the 7 April attack on Novaya Gazeta’s editor in chief Dmitry Muratov.” The official declined to offer details on the investigation. Muratov, who was given the Nobel Peace Prize last year alongside Filipino journalist Maria Ressa, has been an outspoken critic of the situation in Ukraine, calling for anti-war protests and refusing to bow to President Vladimir Putin’s print censorship laws. The editor had been aboard a train set to travel from Moscow to the Russian city of Samara on April 7 when an assailant appeared, yelling, “Muratov, here’s one for our boys,” in reference to Russian soldiers in Ukraine. Novaya Gazeta, which conducted its own April 12 investigation into the attack, identified but did not link a 41-year-old suspect to Russian intelligence.
