Outspoken Putin critic shot dead in Moscow

Reuters ^ | 10-7-06 | James Kilner

[Pharmboy]

Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, an outspoken critic of President Vladimir Putin, was shot dead on Saturday at her apartment block in central Moscow, police said.

"According to initial information she was killed by two shots when leaving the lift. Neighbors found her body," a police source told Reuters. Police found a pistol and four rounds in the lift.

Politkovskaya, a 48-year-old mother of two, won international fame and numerous prizes for her dogged pursuit of rights abuses by Putin's government, particularly in the violent southern province of Chechnya.

"The first thing that comes to mind is that Anna was killed for her professional activities. We don't see any other motive for this terrible crime," said Vitaly Yaroshevsky, a deputy editor of the newspaper where Politkovskaya worked.

Moscow chief prosecutor Yuri Syomin told reporters at the crime scene, a nine-story Soviet-era apartment building in central Moscow, that he was treating the death as murder.

Paramedics took Politkovskaya's body, wrapped in a white sheet, out of the building and put it into an ambulance. A middle-aged woman laid flowers at the doors of the building and stood with her head against the wall, crying.

Politkovskaya's silver Lada, filled with supermarket shopping bags, was parked outside the apartment block.

Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, a shareholder in Politkovskaya's newspaper Novaya Gazeta, called the killing a "savage crime."

"It is a blow to the entire democratic, independent press," Gorbachev told Interfax news agency. "It is a grave crime against the country, against all of us."

In the days before her death, Politkovskaya had been working on a story about torture in Chechnya, which was expected to be published on Monday, her newspaper said.

DISTRUSTED PUTIN

The rebel province has been a constant headache for the Kremlin. Russia sent troops in 1994 to crush an insurgency but after 12 years of bloodshed and the devastation of the province's capital Grozny, sporadic attacks continue.

Politkovskaya was a fierce critic of Putin, whom she accused of stifling freedom and failing to shake off his past as a KGB agent.

"I dislike him for ... his cynicism, for his racism, for his lies ... for the massacre of the innocents which went on throughout his first term as president," she wrote in her book "Putin's Russia" which was published overseas but not in Russia.

Her death came on the day Putin turned 54.

In New York, the Committee to Protect Journalists described Politkovskaya's murder as a "devastating development for journalism in Russia."

There are few independent voices in Russian media, most of it controlled by the state or business interests. Newspapers such as Novaya Gazeta, popular with Russian liberals and human rights activists, are rare, especially outside the big cities and tend to have a small circulation.

"Ms. Politkovskaya's murder signals a major crisis of free expression and journalistic safety in Russia," said Thomas Hammarberg, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights.

Rights group Amnesty International said in a statement it believed Politkovskaya was targeted because she reported on rights abuses in Russia and urged a thorough murder probe.

Born to Soviet Ukrainian diplomats in New York in 1958, Politkovskaya studied journalism at Moscow's State University and began her career in state media.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union she began working at the independent media which began to flourish under Gorbachev.

Politkovskaya's war reporting often meant she was under scrutiny by Russian politicians and, sometimes, the security services. She had been arrested and held in a pit for three days in Chechnya and received numerous death threats.

She said she was unable to cover the bloody siege of a school at Beslan in 2004 -- in which more than 330 children and parents died when troops stormed the school -- because she was poisoned on the flight from Moscow and ended up in hospital.

Her murder is the most high-profile killing of a journalist here since the death of U.S. journalist Paul Klebnikov in 2004.

Last month, gunmen shot and killed senior Russian central banker Andrei Kozlov in one of the most high profile contract killings since Putin came to power in 2000.

(Additional reporting by Robin Paxton, Tatyana Ustinova in Moscow and Bill Trott in Washington)

[struwwelpeter]

It takes a big man to admit they are wrong.

Check out this translation from two years ago: Cowboy Friends, where I insulted Anna Politkovskaya mercilessly for her anti-Bush review of Fahrenheit 911.

It took certain world events (Iran & Venezuela), and some travel to make me understand my error. I keep that ugly article 'unpulled' to remind myself to keep an open mind.

I always confuse the Russian 'liberal' and 'conservative' for our own. In reality, a Russian liberal is for market deregulation, while a Russian conservative wants Alaska back.

Here's a humorous 'dictionary' of Russian politics:

http://rusref.nm.ru/indexpubvocab.htm

A brief online dictionary of the (Russian) liberal superman

Second edition, augmented and reworked*
(Using discussion materials from an SPS forum during parliamentary elections in 2003.)


SHEEPLE - a creature who is neither an SPS nor Yabloko Party supporter. SHEEPLE is the culprit of all misfortunes in RASHA.

RASHA - the country where SHEEPLE lives (Russia).

INTELLECT (versions include: INTILECT, INTILLECT) - that, which SHEEPLE are lacking in order to become supporters SPS or Yabloko.

BRAINS - a synonym of for the word INTELLECT.

INTELLIGENT (versions include: INTELLEGENT, INTILIGENT, INTILLEGENT) - a supporter of the SPS or Yabloko, i.e., a person who possesses INTELLECT.

LIBERAL - a mentally healthy and educated person. He possesses INTELLECT, and as a result he is INTELLIGENT and a supporter of the SPS or Yabloko.

RIGHT-WING - a synonym for the word LIBERAL.

DEMOCRAT - a synonym for the word RIGHT-WING.

DEMOCRACY - directly translated from the Greek word for a government by DEMOCRATS. It resists government of SHEEPLE.

GAIDAR - a DEMOCRAT, who saved RASHA from hunger; a brilliant economist.

CHUBAIS - a DEMOCRAT, the best manager of RASHA. Together with GAIDAR he is the saviour of RASHA from many different calamities, and for this he is hated by the dull SHEEPLE. The most important qualities of CHUBAIS - he is guilty of nothing and always has explanations for all his actions. He is the constant enemy of SHEEPLE's habit of TAKING EVERYTHING AND SHARING IT, he has proved his principles during his entire, difficult life. GAIDAR and CHUBAIS in their youth fought against the Communist Party and the Komsomol.

SHOCK THERAPY - a package of measures used by GAIDAR and CHUBAIS to save RASHA and its population of SHEEPLE. SHOCK THERAPY was developed and proposed by well-known benevolent philanthropists at the IMF and the US president's administration, who sincerely and graciously desire RASHA and its SHEEPLE to thrive and prosper. Unfortunately, SHEEPLE and BUREAUCRATS would not allow themselves to be saved. Note: not to be confused with 'shock and awe'.

PRIVATIZATION - the process of transferring Soviet property to EFFECTIVE OWNERSHIP. PRIVATIZATION was organized by CHUBAIS and carried out by strictly observing the law, and therefore it is not subject to revision.

PRIVATE PROPERTY - that which is holy.

COMMUNIST (RED-BELLY) - a person who is not a supporter of LIBERALISM and/or criticizes GAIDAR and CHUBAIS.

NATIONALIST (CHAUVINIST) - a not entirely sane person who does not agree with the self-evident assertion that Russians are predominantly SHEEPLE and that RASHA is the land of the SHEEPLE.

PATRIOT - a mentally backwards, absurd and extremely ignorant representative of the SHEEPLE, he is closely related to NATIONALISTS.

FASCIST - a NATIONALIST and a supporter of SOCIALISM simultaneously. Closely related to PATRIOTS.

GEHBUKHA (alternate version: GEHBNYA) - an incredible powerful criminal organization, which has covertly and overtly ruled RASHA from times immemorial (KGB).

TAKE EVERYTHING AND SHARE IT - the dream and main slogan of SHEEPLE, NATIONALISTS, COMMUNISTS, and PATRIOTS.

RENT - a quasi-scientific word, used by very sly representatives of SHEEPLE to hide their dream of TAKING EVERYTHING AND SHARE IT.

SHARIKOVSHCHINA - the doctrine of SHEEPLE, based on the thesis about the need to TAKE EVERYTHING AND SHARE IT. The name was given in honor of that idol of the SHEEPLE, the well-known revolutionary Sharikov (who is buried behind Lenin's mausoleum).

WORK - that which SHEEPLE do not know how to do.

EARN FOR THEMSELVES - the life-style of Russian LIBERALS. It resists the tendency of SHEEPLE to TAKE EVERYTHING AND SHARE IT.

OLIGARCHS - the most disenfranchised part of the population of RASHA. They need constant protection from the INTELLIGENT. Nevertheless, the OLIGARCHS hold the entire economy of RASHA, and they protect RASHA from total destruction by the dull SHEEPLE and BUREAUCRATS. OLIGARCHS are better than anyone in successfully EARNING FOR THEMSELVES.

OLIGARCHY - the highest form of DEMOCRACY.

EFFECTIVENESS - the parameter, which characterizes the success of one or another OLIGARCH. EFFECTIVENESS is equal to the ratio of the current market cost of an OLIGARCH'S company with the sum, which the OLIGARCH paid for this company at the moment of its PRIVATIZATION (for convenience still they use base ten logarithms). The EFFECTIVENESS of the GOVERNMENT accordingly is equal to zero, since the state cannot be effective.

EFFECTIVE OWNER - the particular owner of one or another company whose EFFECTIVENESS is much greater than 1 (i.e.: the company's value is more than 10 times greater than the purchase price).

OPENNESS (TRANSPARENCY) - a characteristic of OLIGARCHS, caused by their ability to EARN FOR THEMSELVES in the open. OPENNESS correlates with EFFECTIVENESS: the higher the EFFECTIVENESS, the greater the OPENNESS. SHEEPLE and BUREAUCRATS are alien the idea of OPENNESS.

ENVY - a basic feeling, which SHEEPLE experience with respect to OLIGARCHS. It is the only motivation for their disapproving statements about OLIGARCHS and the OLIGARCHY. The reason for ENVY is the inability of SHEEPLE to EARN FOR THEMSELVES.

BUREAUCRATS - the most harmful and parasitic portion of the SHEEPLE. They are in sharp conflict with the LIBERALS and OLIGARCHS. They are in symbiosis with GEHBUKHA (KGB).

WEST - a paradise, geographically situated to the West from RASHA, where there are no SHEEPLE. It is populated by LIBERALS who EARN FOR THEMSELVES.

MIDDLE CLASS - one of the main products of the MARKET. In RASHA representatives of the MIDDLE CLASS are all supporters and the SPS and Yabloko parties, who in turn look after the interests of the MIDDLE CLASS and protect it from the intrigues of the BUREAUCRATS.

MARKET - an ideal device of society, with which each of its members can EARN FOR THEMSELVES. The MARKET is most developed in the WEST and it is the reason for the prosperity of its numerous MIDDLE CLASS.

GOVERNMENT - a heartless, parasitic social machine composed of BUREAUCRATS who are occupied in the suppression of the INTELLIGENT, LIBERALS and OLIGARCHS. It was completely abolished in the WEST under MARKET conditions.

CIVIL SOCIETY - a system of public organizations that are occupied with the fight against the GOVERNMENT in the name of the ideals of DEMOCRACY.

VODKA - the most popular (alternate version: the only) beverage of SHEEPLE.

STEALING (SAWING OFF BUCKS) - that, which SHEEPLE and BUREAUCRATS do in between bouts of drinking VODKA. It resists the tendency of LIBERALS and OLIGARCHS to EARN FOR THEMSELVES.

SOCIALISM - a social system contrasting to the MARKET, and from which RASHA was saved by GAIDAR and CHUBAIS. During the time of SOCIALISM almost the entire population of RASHA did not WORK and continuously drank VODKA. SOCIALISM is deeply hostile to the WEST.

[struwwelpeter]

A few more comments from Anya's condolences weblog:

Mimoshla
Anna annoyed the authorities, like a bone in their throat, and they killed her. They will stop at nothing! Power corrupts.

Natasha
How awful it is to live in our country... This grief is impossible to put into words. We were so proud that there could be such journalists - courageous, fearless, brave. We are many more than they authorities think, and together we'll set things right.

Rustam Kersanov
Goodbye, Anna! You were a talanted journalist and a fearless person. I hope your courage helps to awaken the sleeping conscience of the average man and nourish the fighters.

Yakov
I feel as I did once when I heard of Galich's death. And if the government was involved, you'll never know. A bright memory of her!

Ingushetia
I hope that these curs answer in this life. Anna was an honest, brave person.

Sergey
A terrible death. I'm very sad for this remarkable person. I'm very sad for all the people who have no rights whatsoever, including a right to life. The pomp of holidays and fireworks in their honor - that is all the authorities are interested in. They kill people and go unpunished, homes are falling apart from age and disrepair, people are buried alive while asleep. And there is no end to this, no limit. Forgive us, Anya!

Jefff
Poor Russia! Really you need another 300 years to understand who is manipulating, scaring, and killing you. If you can mourn Anna today and then leave her in peace, then she wasn't needed by you in life. Today it's too late, however. Anna knew what she was doing and you should too. Condolences to both of you.

Katerina
The murder of any journalist is terrible. It is a gag, by which they shut our mouth. I am sorry for Anna, such a talented and purposeful person. It is pitiful and terrible that deeds such as this are still possible...

[Seaplaner]

Tragic, completely ruthless.

What I'll never understand is how American media lefties don't see this in their future if they and thier fellow-traveling Democrats ever get their way and turn this country into a globalist Utopian collective.

Their would be no room for press criticism of any kind, and meddlesome and disrespectful "journalists" just might be invited to meet Mister Kalashnikov.

Just for fun, compare and contrast how Presidents Bush (the elder and younger) and Reagan showed respect and cordiality to their strident and hysterical critics;

and, how left-wing acolytes Hillary Rodham (and her alleged husband), John Kerry, and Al Gore just bristle and erupt whenever confronted with diverging opinions and incisive interrogatives.

Left-wing, fifth column, Stalinists, Greens, and/or Democrats...all feel that anyone with contrary opinions is an enemy.

[struwwelpeter]

From Novaya Gazeta:
http://2006.novayagazeta.r u/nomer/2006/78n/n78n-s00.shtml

WE SAW OFF ANYA
       

      
       Thousands of people arrived to give their last respects to the brutally murdered journalist. (Our colleagues in journalism from other papers wrote about 'hundreds' coming to Anya's funeral, but in truth there were thousands). People came, following the commands of their hearts and consciences.
       Dozens of ambassadors from very significant foreign states, as well as ordinary people, stood next to each other in the hall of farewells. All were able to say their final goodbye. (We express our appreciation to the organizers of this sad ceremony). The hall, designed for 500, could only hold a thousand. The rest waited patiently, in order to prevent a crush. The government dispatched a deputy cultural minister.
       Our last bow to Anya lasted two hours. There were no hysterics, even though strength and nerves were stretched to the limit. There were no problems, despite the huge crowd. (The special police, who came at our request to maintain order, had nothing to do.) Several dozen journalists, from Russia and the rest of the world (and this is not a figure of speech) behaved very correctly. The relatives of Anya asked that there not be a single photographer or television camera at the funeral. .
       Last Tuesday all of us, without exception, bid this person farewell.
       

     


Many, many more photographs here:
http://2006.novayagazeta.r u/nomer/2006/78n/n78n-s00.shtml