Moscow Alleges Journalist Faked Attack On Himself

Russia's Interior Ministry has accused a journalist of faking an attack in which he was hospitalized after writing about a controversial road project through a forest near Moscow.

Police in Moscow say the reporter, Anatoly Adamchuk, may be charged with filing a false police report.

But Adamchuk denies the allegations. His newspaper, "Zhukovskie vesti" in southeast Moscow, says it expected the accusations after Adamchuk was harassed by police overnight in the hospital.

Interior Ministry spokesman Yevgeny Gildeyev alleged that Adamchuk paid about $33 to two men for carrying out the attack on November 8. He said the two men were arrested and testified that Adamchuk paid them to fake the attack.

Russian journalists are increasing pressure on President Dmitry Medvedev over attacks on journalists after the near-fatal beating of Oleg Kashin, a reporter from the "Kommersant" newspaper, on November 6.

compiled from agency reports