Russians held in Sweden for Chechen blogger attack

Two Russian citizens have been arrested in Sweden suspected of a hammer attack last month on a blogger critical of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, media reported on Saturday.

A district court in the central Swedish town of Gavle on Friday ordered a Russian woman in her 30s held in custody, suspected of being an accessory to the attempted murder of Tumso Abdurakhmanov in late February.

A 29-year-old Russian man was previously detained by the court for attempted murder.

After the alleged attack, Abdurakhmanov posted a video showing the assailant, whom he had apparently overpowered, covered in blood.

He also brandished the hammer that he said the assailant wanted to kill him with.

The Chechen blogger claimed the man was sent by Russia to kill him.

"We're working on trying to establish the motive ... and of course we'll take into consideration the remarks made by the plaintiff," prosecutor Therese Jansson told daily Svenska Dagbladet.

A spokesperson for the Russian embassy in Sweden said the diplomatic mission had been notified by local authorities about the arrests of a man and a woman.

The spokesperson told Russian news agencies that the embassy staff had requested a meeting with the detained man.

"We are monitoring the situation," the unidentified spokesperson added.

Abdurakhmanov, 34, has lived in exile since 2015 after receiving what he describes as threats to his life from Chechnya.

According to Swedish daily Dagens Nyhether, he has been living in hiding in Sweden since 2019, after being denied asylum in Poland.

His YouTube video blog critical of Kadyrov has some 267,000 subscribers.

A former Chechen separatist turned ardent Kremlin loyalist, Kadyrov, 43, is one of Russia's most powerful men.

Сritics accuse him of creating a fiefdom built on widespread rights abuses and amassing vast personal wealth.

Calling himself President Vladimir Putin's loyal "foot soldier," Kadyrov has branded members of the Russian opposition "jackals" and "enemies of the people."

The attack on Abdurakhmanov came amid growing concern over the security of Chechen dissidents living in Europe and elsewhere after repeated reports of attacks.

Initial suspicions of attempted murder of the assailant by Abdurakhmanov have been dropped, the prosecutor said.