Russian governor in intensive care after being stabbed

Following a stabbing on Thursday night, the governor of Russia’s far northern Murmansk region was admitted to intensive care, according to local authorities.

In the town of Apatity, Andrey Chibis, 45, was stabbed in the stomach while having a meeting with locals outside a cultural facility.

According to the region’s officials on their Telegram channel, he is currently in “the intensive care and resuscitation department” of a hospital in the city of Murmansk.

“The condition of the governor is assessed as serious, but stable,” it said, citing regional health minister Dmitry Panychev.

In a video posted on Telegram from his hospital bed early on Friday, Chibis said that he had “come around” after undergoing surgery and that doctors had saved his life.

The attacker was detained and is expected to undergo forensic and “psychiatric examinations”, investigators said.

“During interrogation, the man explained that he had committed the attack because he felt dislike for the governor, although he did not know him personally,” they said.

Since 2019, Chibis, a member of the ruling United Russia party, has been in charge of the Murmansk area.

In 2022, the European Union imposed sanctions on him due to his endorsement of the Russian Federation’s aggression in Ukraine.