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Arrest Made in Assault on Navalny Aide Lyaskin

Nikolai Lyaskin Artyom Geodakyan / TASS

Police have arrested a man suspected of attacking anti-corruption activist Nikolai Lyaskin, an aide to opposition leader Alexei Navalny, the Interfax news agency reported.

A week after Navalny organized mass protests in dozens of cities throughout Russia, an unidentified man approached Lyaskin in central Moscow on Sept. 15 and struck him over the head with a lead pipe before fleeing.

The Mash Telegram channel published surveillance footage this week of the attack.  

Lyaskin was taken to a hospital and diagnosed with skull injuries.

An "informed source" told Interfax that police have detained a 36-year-old Moscow resident with a criminal record who has also been under psychiatric observation.

Moscow police headquarters confirmed to Interfax that the man who had attacked Lyaskin had been brought to a police precinct but declined to provide his name.

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