Then-first lady Michelle Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry stand for a photo with Elena Milashina (C) of Russia after presenting her with the Secretary of State's International Women of Courage Award inside the Dean Acheson Auditorium of the U.S. Department of State, in a March 8, 2013, file photo in Washington. PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/GETTY

An award-winning Russian investigative journalist is in hospital after being badly beaten by armed assailants during a trip to Chechnya, the Memorial human rights group said on Tuesday.

"Elena Milashina's fingers have been broken and she is sometimes losing consciousness. She has bruises all over her body," the group said on social media.

The incident happened early on Tuesday as Milashina and Alexander Nemov, a lawyer, were travelling from the airport.

"They were savagely kicked, including in the face, received death threats and were threatened with a gun to the head. Their equipment was taken away and smashed," Memorial said.

The Committee Against Torture, a human rights group, published photos of Milashina in hospital with her head shaved and covered in a green-colored dye used on cuts and her hands bandaged.

The media rights group Reporters Without Borders said it was "horrified by the savage attack" on Milashina.

Milashina's paper Novaya Gazeta, Russia's top independent publication, confirmed the incident. It said she and Nemov were currently in hospital in the Chechen capital Grozny.

Novaya Gazeta said she was in Grozny to attend the sentencing of Zarema Musayeva, the mother of three exiles critical of Chechen strongman Ramzan Kadyrov.

Musayeva was detained by Chechen forces in January last year in Nizhny Novgorod — a city 1,120 miles north of Chechnya.

Novaya Gazeta in February last year said Milashina had to leave Russia temporarily after receiving death threats from the Chechen leadership. Chechnya is a Russian republic run led by Ramzan Kadyrov, a military officer and former warlord closely allied with the Kremlin. He recently sent forces to support Vladimir Putin's military as Russia's Wagner mercenary group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin staged a brief rebellion.

Milashina has covered rights abuses in Chechnya for Novaya Gazeta for years.

Novaya Gazeta, whose chief editor Dmitry Muratov won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021, has since 2000 seen six journalists and contributors killed, including investigative reporter Anna Politkovskaya.

By focusing on rights abuses in Chechnya, Milashina has followed in the footsteps of Politkovskaya, a fierce critic of the Kremlin's policies in Chechnya who was shot dead in 2006.

Russian human rights commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying the incident "should be carefully investigated and the perpetrators brought to justice."

Moskalkova said Milashina was being taken to another hospital in a nearby region.

"The security of the journalist will be fully guaranteed," Moskalkova said.

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