Russian media say two men stormed the radio station’s Moscow office after spraying an unknown substance at security guards, in what appears to have been a pre-meditated attack.
The state-run RIA Novosti news agency quotes an unnamed source as saying that the attack may have been motivated by a personal conflict, while Interfax news agency sources say Felgenhauer was acquainted with the assailant and that the attack was not connected to her journalism.
Ekho later named the alleged assailant as Boris Grits. In online footage of his police interrogation, Grits introduces himself and is quoted as saying “I’ve only known the victim telepathically for 5 years.”
“I was motivated by the fact that she has been sexually harassing me for 2 months. Every night, using telepathic means of contact, she entered and sexually harassed me,” he adds in the interrogation.
Moscow police’s press service was cited the by Interfax news agency later on Monday as saying the attacker was a foreign passport holder.
The attack follows reports on state-run television earlier this month that Ekho Moskvy conspired with U.S. state-funded media to shape a pro-Western narrative ahead of the 2018 presidential elections.
Earlier this year, prominent Russian journalist and a regular contributor to Ekho Moskvy Yulia Latynina fled Russia following a series of attacks.