Russian state television is partly to blame for Monday’s stabbing attack on an editor working for the independent Ekho Moskvy radio station, the Trade Union of Journalists and Media Workers said Monday.
An Israeli citizen who identified himself as Boris Grits confessed to stabbing Tatiana Felgenhauer in the neck at the radio station’s Moscow office earlier in the day. Doctors say she is in serious condition and has undergone surgery.
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.
The Trade Union of Journalists and Media Workers said in Monday’s statement that state-controlled Rossiya 24 television station had run several stories accusing the radio station and Felgenhauer personally of collaborating with Western NGOs.
“It stated in its stories that the radio station Ekho Moskvy is engaged in anti-state activities and should be labeled a foreign agent,” the union says.
“We believe that these stories incite hatred toward our colleagues and could have provoked an attack on Tatiana by an unstable person,” it adds.
Russia’s Union of Journalists, meanwhile, added the stabbing to a roster of recent attacks and acts of intimidation against journalists in Russia.
It cited the recent vandalism of Lenta.ru offices, an arson attack on prominent opposition journalist Yulia Latynina’s car that led to leave Russia and online threats against Znak.com news website correspondent Yekaterina Vinokurova.
