Russia probes 'stun gun attack' on election chief Pamfilova

Ella Pamfilova is overseeing controversial regional elections

Russian police say a masked man broke into the home of the top election official, Ella Pamfilova, and hit her with a stun gun, but she later attended a conference despite the attack.

The man broke into her home through a window, just outside Moscow early on Friday, and "repeatedly hit" Ms Pamfilova with the weapon, police said.

Opposition leader Alexei Navalny tweeted that the assault was fake news.

There has been a big police crackdown ahead of local elections on Sunday.

For weeks opposition activists have been protesting in Moscow, angry that Ms Pamfilova's Central Election Commission barred many independent candidates from standing.

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Hundreds were detained during the protests and some activists were handed jail terms of up to four years.

The demonstrations are the biggest public challenge to President Vladimir Putin's rule since 2012.

A criminal investigation has been launched into the attack on Ms Pamfilova, 65, which is being treated as attempted burglary. She lives in Istra, a rural district north-west of Moscow.

The intruder did not electrocute Ms Pamfilova with the stun gun, a police source told Interfax news agency.

Ms Pamfilova was later shown on Russian state TV, saying that the attacker had fled when she brandished a chair at him.

She said one of her fingers was damaged but she would not be intimidated by such attacks.

"He was wearing gloves and a mask," she said on Russian TV. "I'm in shock. Imagine waking up and there is a man in your house trying to attack you.

"I want to hope it was an accident... Maybe somebody wanted to scare me, or he mixed up houses, or wanted to steal something?"

Meanwhile, Mr Navalny wrote in a tweet that it was "a fake attack... intended to distract attention from the [election] falsifications in St Petersburg (there are audio recordings), Moscow and other cities".