Oleg Kashin had recently reported on protests against a new highway outside Moscow A leading Russian journalist for the Kommersant newspaper has been severely beaten outside his Moscow home.
Russian media said Oleg Kashin was in hospital in an induced coma and police were treating the attack as a case of attempted murder.
“It’s clear that the people who did this did not like what he says and writes,” Kommersant editor Mikhail Mikhailin told Moscow radio.
Mr Kashin had covered demonstrations and opposition rallies.
The Russian prosecutor general will personally oversee the case, according to Tass news agency.
Komersant said in a statement that Mr Kashin was attacked outside his Moscow apartment building in the early hours of Saturday. He had a fractured jaw, broken shins and injuries to his fingers and skull.
In recent months Mr Kashin had been reporting on demonstrations against the building of a highway through Khimki forest outside Moscow which has now been put on hold by the government.
Two years ago a local newspaper editor who had been critical of the local Khimki administration was seriously assaulted.
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