MOSCOW, July 5. /TASS/. The Russian Investigative Committee has started an investigation into the recent attack on a Russian reporter and a lawyer as they were traveling in the southern region of Chechnya, the agency said.

The head of the committee’s office in Chechnya, identified as V. Volkov, said the agency started investigating the attack on reporter Yelena Milashina and lawyer Alexander Nemov as premediated assault resulting in medium-severity bodily harm and as premediated assault resulting in light-severity bodily harm, according to the committee’s Moscow headquarters.

Investigative measures are underway to identify the people involved in the crime and establish the circumstances of the attack, the committee said.

Milashina and Nemov were assaulted on Tuesday. Russian human rights commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova has reached out to the Chechen Investigative Committee, Interior Ministry and prosecutor’s office in connection with the incident. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov described the incident as "a very serious attack requiring very vigorous action" and said that the president had been briefed about the assault.