Attack on Novaya Gazeta editor linked to Russian security forces and separatist militants media

ALONA MAZURENKO — THURSDAY, 7 JULY 2022, 21:50

Russian journalists are suggesting that the attack on Dmitry Muratov, editor of the opposition newspaper Novaya Gazeta and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, was carried out by Russian nationalists who are involved with Russian Federation security forces and militants from temporarily occupied areas of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts.

Source: Novaya Gazeta

Details: The journalists discovered that one of the alleged attackers, Nikolai Trifonov, is connected to the FSB.

He is a member of the nationalist movement in the Russian Federation and is linked to the Union of Paratroopers of Russia and other veteran organisations.

The Telegram channel "SoyuZ desantnikov" ("Union of ParatrooperZ"), which was the first to post a video of the attack on Muratov with the threat to "come after every one of you", is also connected with this organisation.

Trifonov was also in Donetsk Oblast in April 2014, when separatists occupied the government buildings in Donetsk and Luhansk and then announced the formation of the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics (the "DPR" and "LPR").

Trifonov told reporters over the phone that he did not attack Muratov: "No, of course, that wasn't me. And I have nothing to do with the Union of Paratroopers either."

When asked what he is doing now, Trifonov refused to answer. Asked about his connection with veteran movements and the Union of Paratroopers at Moscow State University, he replied: "You are probably wrong, that's not me."

The journalists also uncovered the name of another man who may have been involved in the attack - Ilya Markovets.

A company offering private investigation services named "Brothers in Arms" is registered in Markovets’ name in Pskov. Markovets has also worked in the security service of the food retailer X5 Retail Group, and he has been a specialist at the School of Modern Psychotechnologies since at least the end of 2015.

Markovets is also an adviser to Enrico Todua, the chairman of the board of the Russian Union of Reserve Officers. This is an organisation that actively cooperates with the structures of the "DPR".

It is noted that Markovets and Trifonov are both linked to the Russian security forces and far-right and veteran circles.

When asked over the phone about his possible involvement in the crime, Markovets answered "No comment" and hung up.

At the same time, the media have noted that no criminal proceedings have been opened in the Russian Federation in the three months since the attack, even though whenever there is any encroachment on "Z" symbols, the culprits are found extremely quickly.

On 7 April, in a compartment of the Moscow-Samara train, an unknown person poured red paint mixed with acetone over Dmitry Muratov, the editor-in-chief of the opposition newspaper Novaya Gazeta and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.

Nikolai Trifonov

Youtube

Ilya Markovets

photo: ejednevnik-farser.info

Note: In 2021, Dmitry Muratov, the editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta, received the Nobel Peace Prize "for his efforts to safeguard freedom of expression". On 22 March 2022, Muratov announced that he was selling his medal from the Nobel Committee and donating the proceeds to help Ukrainian refugees who are victims of the Russian army’s hostilities.

Novaya Gazeta was founded in 1993. In the early 2000s it was this newspaper that published articles by the main critics of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his associates, including human rights activist Anna Politkovskaya, who was murdered in 2006 in the lift of her apartment block.

Background:

•     Following Russia’s adoption of the so-called "law on fakes about the Russian army" on 4 March, Novaya Gazeta was forced to change the words "Russia's war against Ukraine" to "special military operation" in order to be able to continue publishing on the territory of the Russian Federation. Despite the censorship, the editors found ironic ways of getting round having to use the phrase "special military operation".

•     On 28 March, the editorial office of Novaya Gazeta announced that it would suspend all its operations until Russia's war against Ukraine was over.