Moscow State University (Photo by Eldar via Flickr and Creative Commons license)

The men ambushed Kashin, hitting him on the head, legs and hands with metal rods before fleeing the scene, witnesses say.

The attack, which is the fifth on a Russian journalist in the last 30 days, is believed by some to be related to Kashin's crusading work. Kashin has written extensively about public dissent, protests and demonstrations.

"What's so utterly disgusting about the case is that the attackers did their utmost if not to kill Kashin but to maim him gravely enough to prevent him from ever being physically able to write again," said Mikhail Fedotov, the secretary of the Russian Union of Journalists, to the Los Angeles Times.

President Dmitry Medvedev and journalists have condemned the attacks. Medvedev has ordered the Interior Ministry and the prosecutor general's office to handle the investigation.

Read more from the Los Angeles Times here.