The incident happened outside Volkov’s home in Vilnius. An assailant broke a car window, sprayed tear gas and hit Volkov numerous times with a blunt instrument. He was taken to hospital but discharged later.
After the attack, Volkov posted a video message from his home to his followers. He said the attack happened outside of his house and the assailant hit him some 15 times with a meat tenderiser. He suffered a broken hand and a bruised leg.
“It was an obvious, typical and characteristic ‘bandit’s hello’ from Putin,” Volkov said in the video message and called on Russians to take part in the planned Noon Against Putin.
Meanwhile, Deputy Police Commissioner General Saulius Tamulevičius told public broadcaster LRT that antiterrorist police unit Aras and special purpose officers were sent to the scene on Tuesday. Law enforcement work at the scene continued throughout the night.
However, he added that the attacker was not caught, but a pre-trial investigation was launched to determine the causes and motives behind the assault.
Volkov had to leave Russia due to a threat of arrest and currently resides in Lithuania. He is a colleague of Alexei Navalny, a prominent critic of the Kremlin who recently died in a Russian prison.