MOSCOW, March 18 (RAPSI) – A criminal case was launched by police over an assault on a lawmaker of the Kaliningrad Regional Duma, Igor Rudnikov, RIA Novosti reported on Friday.

On Thursday, around 4pm, unknown assailant who was carrying a knife attacked Rudnikov in the center of Kaliningrad and stabbed his victim three times. Perpetrator and his potential accomplices fled the scene shortly.

Lawmaker was hospitalized, he is currently under guard, and there is no immediate danger to his life. Police is conducting searches around the city, hoping to find the criminals.

Igor Rudnikov is a member of the permanent committee on international and inter-regional relations, security and the rule of law of the Kaliningrad Regional Duma. In 1998 and 2002, he ran for mayor of Kaliningrad. Rudnikov is the founder of the "New wheels” newspaper." The lawmaker  was attacked before, in 1998, when he was hit with a metal pipe to the head.