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Attack on Russian journalist result of business dispute - United Russia deputy

08 November 2010 21:19 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. The attack on Russian journalist Oleg Kashin was a result of a business dispute and was not politically motivated, the first deputy of the pro-Kremlin United Russia party said on Monday, APA reports quoting RIA Novosti.
"It is necessary to understand that journalists suffer not because of the authorities, political structures, or other institutions, but primarily because of business conflicts," Valeriy Ryazanskiy said, adding that such conflicts were a result of the "recovery phase" from the "turmoil of 2008-2009."
The journalist from the respected Kommersant daily was severely beaten by unidentified assailants near his house in Moscow early on Saturday. He suffered severe head and leg injuries and is currently in an induced coma. Reports also say his fingers were broken and may have been amputated.
The motives for the attack are currently unclear, although Kommersantâ€™s editor Mikhail Mikhailin said it was probably linked to the journalistâ€™s recent investigations into extremist youth groups.
Earlier the Young Guard of United Russia (MGER), which has criticized Kashin on a number of occasions, urged spectators not to link the attack to the disagreements between the movement and the journalist.
First deputy chairman of the Russian Communist Party Central Committee and State Duma Vice-speaker Ivan Melnikov said the attack was politically motivated.
"It is absolutely clear that the attack on journalist Oleg Kashin is linked to his professional activities; this is first and foremost a political case."
"This is not just a crime, this is a diagnosis for the atmosphere within modern Russia," Melnikov said. "Even during war, journalists are not attacked."
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia has been one of the most dangerous countries for reporters with scores of journalists being attacked and beaten every year.
In 2008, Mikhail Beketov, the editor-in-chief of the Khimkinskaya Pravda newspaper, was severely beaten by unidentified attackers. He is now severely brain damaged and confined to a wheelchair.
Both Beketov and Kashin had written extensively about a grassroots campaign to stop the construction of a road through the ancient Khimki oak forest near Moscow.
Kommersant is a business daily owned by tycoon Alisher Usmanov, a co-owner of Russiaâ€™s third-largest mobile telephone operator, MegaFon, and major Russian internet investor Digital Sky Technologies Ltd. (DST).