A pig’s head and an antisemitic slur attached to a Ukrainian coat of arms were left on the doorstep of the Moscow apartment belonging to a prominent Russian journalist who has been a vocal critic of Russia’s Ukraine invasion.
Alexei Venediktov reported that he had been targeted on social media on Thursday, NPR reported.
Venediktov, who is of Jewish descent, was the veteran editor of Echo of Moscow radio which was shut down earlier in the month for criticizing the war.
The journalist posted a photo of a pig’s head in a wig that is on the ground. Next to it is the Ukrainian coat of arms with an antisemitic slur on it fastened to his apartment door. The antisemitic slur was reportedly the word “Judensau” (“Jewish pig”), an offensive term which dates back to 13th century Germany.
"This in the country that defeated fascism," Venediktov wrote in the post on his Telegram channel. "Why not just fix a six-pronged star to my apartment door?"
Venediktov also posted a photo taken from a surveillance camera from his apartment building that showed a man dressed as a food delivery driver approaching his door. He wrote that the food company wrote to tell him that the uniform had not been in use for several years.
Echo of Moscow began in 1990 as the Soviet Union crumbled, and became a symbol of hope in a new era of a Russian free press. But earlier in March, it was shut down by government communications regular Roskomnadzor, who claimed it was "deliberately [spreading] false information about the actions of Russian military personnel."
The station’s frequency is now used by state broadcaster Sputnik Radio.