Stabbed Russian journalist 'in recovery'

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October 24, 2017 8:31 AM

Tatyana Felgenhauer, a 32-year-old presenter, was attacked on Monday at the offices of the Echo of Moscow radio station...

A Russian radio journalist who was stabbed in the neck by a mentally unstable man was in a recovery room Tuesday, with her condition showing some improvement, her employer and the hospital said.

Tatyana Felgenhauer, a 32-year-old presenter, was attacked on Monday at the offices of the Echo of Moscow radio station by a man who claimed a "telepathic" connection with her.

She underwent surgery, and was on a ventilator and in a medically induced coma Monday.

"She is in a recovery room. She is in moderately grave condition," a representative of the Sklifosovsky Institute, Moscow's main emergency hospital, told AFP. She declined to provide further details.

The Echo of Moscow, citing doctors, reported that Felgenhauer's vocal cords had not been damaged and the prognosis was "favourable."

The doctors are expected to decide on further treatment Tuesday, the radio reported.

The suspect, identified as Boris Grits, a 48-year-old mentally unstable man, broke into the radio station's offices in central Moscow and lunged at the journalist with a knife after blinding a security guard with a spray downstairs.

A court in Moscow was scheduled on Tuesday to consider a request from the investigative committee to arrest the suspect who is also set to undergo a psychiatric examination.

Police on Monday released a video clip in which the suspect is saying he had known the journalist "telepathically" for years.

"Using this telepathic contact she stole in every night and tormented me," he said. "She had been (sexually) harassing me for two months."

The assault comes after a string of attacks against journalists and other prominent figures, the highest profile of which was Boris Nemtsov, the opposition leader gunned down on a bridge near the Kremlin in 2015.

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