MOSCOW

A stranger attacked the governor of Russia's Murmansk region with a knife, wounding him in the abdomen, his office said late Thursday.

Andrey Chibis was leaving a meeting with local residents in the city of Apatity when a man approached and stabbed him. He was immediately moved to the hospital while the assailant was detained.

Chibis remains in intensive care, and his condition is assessed as "serious," Yuri Shiryayev, the chief physician of the Apatitsko-Kirov Central City Hospital, said in a separate statement.

"The condition is serious, he is in intensive care. He was very lucky that the aorta was not affected. Further treatment will take place in the intensive care unit, all other comments later," Shiryayev stressed.

The assailant was also wounded, and the governor's bodyguard shot him while apprehending, the press service of the Murmansk region office of the National Guards Corp said.

According to preliminary information, the attacker, Alexandr Bydanov, is a railway employee. Born in 1981, he has no record of any mental disorders.

The Investigative Committee opened a criminal case following the incident.