A Russian politician said on Saturday he had been badly beaten after publicising the mysterious funerals of two soldiers who may have died while fighting in Ukraine. Lev Shlosberg, a newspaper publisher who represents the liberal opposition Yabloko party in the regional assembly in the north-western city of Pskov, said he was attacked on Friday evening near his home.
"They attacked me from behind, I did not see any of them," Shlosberg said in a phone interview from his hospital ward. "Apparently, they knocked me unconscious with their first punch, threw me to the ground, beat me up and then ran away. Those people were very good professionals in their nasty business."