Moscow Cops Arrest Editor Slaying Suspects (Two Chechens detained for murder of Forbes editor)

Associated Press | September 28, 2004

[HAL9000]

MOSCOW -- Police in Moscow have detained two Chechen men on suspicion of involvement in the killing of American journalist Paul Klebnikov in the Russian capital, the city police chief said Tuesday.

Moscow police chief Vladimir Pronin told the Interfax news agency that the two Chechen men detained overnight were involved in the July 9 murder of Klebnikov, the American editor of Forbes magazine's Russian edition.

Pronin was quoted as saying that police had seized three guns from the two suspects. He said that prior to Klebnikov's killing, the same men had taken a hostage whom he wouldn't name.

Pronin wouldn't comment on the motive of Klebnikov's killing.

Klebnikov, U.S.-born of Russian heritage, was gunned down outside the magazine's office in downtown Moscow.

Speculation on the motive behind the killing has focused on Klebnikov's writing about the often-murky world of Russian business, and especially on the magazine's publication this spring of a list of the country's 100 richest people, which could have drawn unwanted attention to people sensitive about their wealth.

Some commentators said that Chechen link was also possible, pointing at Klebnikov's book based on his interviews with Khozh-Akhmed Nukhayev, a former deputy prime minister in the Chechen separatist government, which was published last year.

The book, "Conversations With a Barbarian," cast Nukhayev and other Chechen rebels in a negative light, and some Russian observers had suggested that it could have provoked the killing.

Copyright © 2004, The Associated Press

[coconutt2000]

Umm... I'm suspicious...

[jb6]

Whether the killers are Chechin or not is a question, but the reason for his death is simple: about a month earlier he published a detailed book on the Oligarches and just how and where they made their crooked fortunes. Now couple this to the fact that Khodorkovsky's former VP and Sec Chief have both been arrested and indited on running a hit ring to get rid of their personal and business enemies, and the murder at least does not look suspicious.

The published book aids Putin in battling the Oligarches, confirming to the Russian masses and the West their criminal nature.