VLADIVOSTOK, Russia -- Yury Stepanov, an editor at an independent program called Radio Lemma, was walking home at about 10:30 p.m. June 29 when he noticed a Toyota minivan blocking an alley near his home.

As he squeezed past, he says, a burly man in black stepped out of the dark and smashed him in the face.

Stepanov fell to the ground. The assailant and another thug began kicking him -- in the head, the ribs, the stomach. They dragged him to the van, but he broke free and fled. He now spends his days holed up at home, nursing a concussion and three broken ribs.