A journalist with the independent Russian online media outlet Kavkazsky Uzel (Caucasus Knot) says he is recovering after being shot in an attack he linked to his reporting.
Vyacheslav Prudnikov said that a man opened fire at him on December 21 when he was visiting a cemetery in Krasny Sulin, a town in the Rostov region in southern Russia.
Prudnikov said the attacker shouted, "We are fed up with your writing about authorities,” and fired at his face. He said he covered his face with his arm and a bullet hit his elbow.
Another bullet hit Prudnikov's rib when he was running away from the assailant, he said, adding that he had undergone surgery and his life was out of danger.
Prudnikov has been covering strikes in the town of Gukovo, where local miners have been demanding overdue salaries since September.
Kavkazsky Uzel was established by the rights group Memorial in 2001 and mainly covers Russia's North Caucasus, nearby regions in southern Russia, and the South Caucasus countries of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia.
In January, Kavkazsky Uzel correspondent Vladislav Ryazantsev was beaten by unknown attackers in the city of Rostov-on-Don.
Another Kavkazsky Uzel correspondent, Akhmednabi Akhmednabiev, was shot dead near his house in Daghestan in July 2013. Nobody has been prosecuted for his killing.
