On Tuesday night Russia's leading opposition figure, former Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov, was attacked at a restaurant in downtown Moscow. A member of Kasyanov’s People’s Freedom Party, RPR-PARNAS, Natalya Pelevina told The Daily Beast that around 20 men arrived in vehicles with blue flashing lights, surrounded Kasyanov and smashed a cake on his head.
"The attackers spoke Chechen," Pelevina said. "Mikhail Kasyanov is the only former Russian prime minister who is not provided with federal security guards. He is using his own private security; but they were too few to protect him from the Chechen attackers tonight," she told The Daily Beast.
Pelevina said that some of the attackers grabbed the opposition leader, others took a video of him with pieces of cake all over his head and face. "They yelled something about the opposition," she said.
Kasyanov went to police and gave all the details about the attack to investigators. Last week Kasyanov complained to the FSB, state security, about a threat from the leader of the Chechen Republic, Ramzan Kadyrov. On February 2, Kadyrov posted a video on his personal Instagram of Kasyanov in the crosshairs of a sniper's telescopic sight. Kadyrov accused Kasyanov, who is going to lead the Russian democratic opposition in 2016 parliamentary elections, of receiving money for his campaign from the West. "In spite of all the pressure, threats on his life, and attacks we are going to continue our political struggle," Pelevina told The Daily Beast on Tuesday night.
—Anna Nemtsova