‘Apologies for the details’

The latest on the brutal attack against journalist Elena Milashina and lawyer Alexander Nemov

On the morning of July 4, journalist Elena Milashina and lawyer Alexander Nemov were attacked by masked men in Chechnya, where they had flown to attend the sentencing of Zarema Musaeva, the mother of human rights activist Abubakar Yangulbayev and the alleged co-founder of the Chechen opposition movement Adat, Ibrahim Yangulbayev. More than 24 hours later, the Russian Investigative Committee has still not announced any criminal proceedings in connection with the attack, despite numerous Russian officials demanding an investigation. Milashina and Nemov were transported from Chechnya to Beslan before being flown in a private jet to Moscow’s Botkinskaya Hospital. The flight was paid for by “private individuals.”

Update: Elena Milashina has been diagnosed with a closed brain injury, numerous (up to 14) hand fractures, and multiple soft tissue contusions, according to Novaya Gazeta. Russian state media have reported that a criminal case has been opened into the attack.

On the night of July 4, journalist Elena Milashina and lawyer Alexander Nemov, both of whom were left with serious injuries after being attacked in Grozny, were flown in a private jet to Moscow. They were accompanied by Novaya Gazeta editor-in-chief Dmitry Muratov as well as by former Echo of Moscow editor-in-chief Alexei Venediktov, who organized the transport.

The victims were in a Moscow hospital by 4:00 a.m., according to Venediktov. A photo that he shared on Instagram shows the outside of the city’s Botkinskaya Hospital.

Venediktov also posted a video from the plane in which Milashina says the attackers wanted to cut her finger off in order to unblock her cell phone. “At that point, the iPhone decided to demonstrate its character; it’s my iPhone, after all. And it stopped responding to my fingerprint. And they stopped cutting it,” Milashina says in the clip.

On July 5, Alexander Nemov thanked all of the doctors that treated him and said that he had numerous bruises in addition to stab wounds. “I don’t even know what to say. A huge thanks to all of the doctors, both in Vladikavkaz and in Moscow. Incredibly high levels of empathy,” he told the Crew Against Torture.

The plane used to evacuate Milashina and Nemov was paid for by “a private individual or private individuals,” Alexey Venediktov told TV Rain. According to the journalist, at about 11:00 a.m. on July 4, he received a call from Dmitry Muratov, who asked him to think of “evacuation routes” that Milashina and Nemov could take from Beslan to Moscow. Venediktov then made a list of 12 people who “might be able to help” and began calling them. The first person he called, he said, told him about a person who is “in the business of planes in Russia” and who organizes private jet trips. “I contacted him, and we had a plane within an hour. Then arose the question of whether we needed a medical team. […] We decided that two doctors would fly with us, because Alexander Nemov had a stab wound in his hip where the knife had been turned. Apologies for the details,” said Venediktov.

Venediktov said that the plane was provided by “people who have been doing this for a long time” and that it was a “private company that provides business aviation services.” After the arrangements were made, Venediktov said, he called the head of the company and asked how much it would cost. “The response was: ‘You know, Mr. Venediktov, everything has already been settled.’ […] So to say that I know exactly who paid for that flight… It’s not a state company, it’s a private individual or private individuals. I don’t even know the price. I asked my son to Google the price, and we understood that it cost tens of thousands of euros,” said Venediktov.

More than a day after the attack on Milashina and Nemov, the Russian authorities have yet to open a criminal case. On July 4, Russian Investigative Committee head Alexander Bastrykin ordered an investigation into the attack. Members of the Federation Council, the State Duma, the Council on Human Rights, and the Union of Russian Journalists have also demanded investigations. Chechnya Governor Ramzan Kadyrov, who has previously issued open threats against Milashina, promised to “deal with” the situation and to identify the attackers.

The Kremlin told journalists to “wait” for a criminal case to be opened. When Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was asked at a briefing why no case has been initiated, he responded as follows: “You see that all of the instructions were given by the chairman of the Investigative Committee and the work is now underway. Let’s just wait. The entire reaction has been voiced, and all of the necessary actions are being taken.” The previous day, Peskov called the incident “a very serious attack that will require fairly robust measures.”

According to Alexey Venediktov, the federal authorities’ “prompt response” to the attack is related to the “aftertaste” of Yevgeny Prigozhin’s rebellion as well as with the fact that attacks against lawyers are rare in Russia. “They targeted a lawyer, an inviolable figure, and I know that this caused a certain stir in the presidential administration,” he said in an interview with BBC News Russia. He also compared the attack with the case of journalist Ivan Golunov. He added that starting a 6:00 a.m., people with “a wide variety of political, ethical, and all other kinds of views” called him and asked “how they can help.”