Woman Who Stabbed Russian Politician Sent to Psychiatric Hospital

MOSCOW, November 23 (RIA Novosti) – A woman suspected of stabbing two people, including a Russian politician, in a Moscow hostel has been sent to a psychiatric hospital, police said Friday. 

Regional lawmaker Oleg Shein and another unidentified 23-year-old man were injured when the woman, who police identified as a 21-year-old student from the city of Magnitogorsk in Russia’s Chelyabinsk Region, allegedly attacked them with a knife early Thursday morning.

Shein, currently hospitalized with three stab wounds in Moscow’s Sklifosovsky Institute, said Friday he hopes to check out of the ward after the weekend. 

“[My] arms are starting to work a little bit,” Shein wrote on his personal blog. “I can’t walk right now, but I’m going to try to accomplish that over the weekend to check out on Monday.”

According to police, the woman attacked the 23-year-old victim with a knife early Thursday morning in the Artist Hostel in downtown Moscow. 

Shein, who was sleeping in the same room, was stabbed when he awoke and intervened in the conflict, police said. 

The regional leader of the A Just Russia party and a former mayoral candidate in Russia’s southern city of Astrakhan had come to Moscow to meet with party leader Sergei Mironov and Central Election Commission chief Vladimir Churov. 

Shein, 41, rose to national attention when he embarked on a 40-day hunger strike in 2012 to protest alleged electoral fraud after his failed bid for election as mayor of Astrakhan. 

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