# Russian Journalist Critical of Putin's Chechnya Policy Murdered **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 7, 2006, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-journalist-critical-of-putins-chechnya-policy-murdered/375643 "2006-10-07T21:01:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2006, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-journalist-critical-of-putins-chechnya-policy-murdered/375643/1 "2006-10-07T21:01:35Z")
[Anna Politkovskaya was shot dead today in Moscow.](http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061007/ts_nm/russia_murder_dc_10) I bet you dollars to doughnuts that this was an intentional hit, by someone with close ties to the Putin administration. Ms. Politkovskaya was also the author of books critical of Putin’s Chechnya policy, and [this probably wasn’t the first time someone had tried to kill her for her professional work.](http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2006/10/061bc3e9-ce38-4529-bc04-b7f53e3aa03d.html) I have nothing complex to say for the moment, except I just needed to vent - the last thing a war journalist should have to fear is someone with ties to her own government. Fuckers. And will the U.S. ever consider Chechnya or freedom of expression to be any sort of human rights issues with consequences for the Russian administration, or will we roll over, as usual? (Apologies for any typos; I am on a foreign keyboard and without my glasses.) ---
**Author:** ![black\_rabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f19dbf/32.png) [@black\_rabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/black_rabbit)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2006, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-journalist-critical-of-putins-chechnya-policy-murdered/375643/2 "2006-10-07T23:18:26Z")
Fuck. Her _Dirty War_ literally made me cry multiple times. This sucks. ---
**Author:** ![if6was9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e47c2d/32.png) [@if6was9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/if6was9)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2006, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-journalist-critical-of-putins-chechnya-policy-murdered/375643/3 "2006-10-08T08:14:32Z")
Putin mighta had nothing to do with it. How do we know? Might have just been a Putin zealout. Hell, from what I’ve heard of Russia these days, mighta been a drug crazed lunatic looking for drugs or a Russian Mafia _miss_. ---
**Author:** ![Timchik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@Timchik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Timchik)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2006, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-journalist-critical-of-putins-chechnya-policy-murdered/375643/4 "2006-10-08T10:04:18Z")
[QUOTE=if6was9] Putin mighta had nothing to do with it. How do we know? Might have just been a Putin zealout. Hell, from what I’ve heard of Russia these days, mighta been a drug crazed lunatic looking for drugs or a Russian Mafia _miss_. [/QUOTE] Not a chance, sorry. This isn’t 1995; what you’ve heard of Russia is a decade out of date. What happened was a deliberate murder; two shots to the chest, then a _kontrolny vystrel_ [“control shot”] to the head. This was no junkie. Putin almost certainly had nothing to do with it directly, probably not even in a “who will rid me of this turbulent journalist?” kind of way. He’s got bigger fish to fry, and already has sufficiently strong control over the electronic media that he’s not going to lose any sleep over a small bi-weekly newspaper, however critical. Informed speculation is mostly about people associated with [Ramzan Kadyrov](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramzan_Kadyrov), the thuggish “pro-Russian” Chechen leader. Then again, there are a lot of people she pissed off over the years, for very good reasons. It’s a very sad day for journalism in general and Russian journalism in particular. Politkovskaya’s articles in _Novaya Gazeta_ were the only easily available source of information for much of what she was reporting about. She was a bright light in the increasingly meretricious and venal world of Russian journalism. ☹ Unfortunately, the chances of the murder ever being solved are vanishingly small, judging by previous such cases. Bastards. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2006, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-journalist-critical-of-putins-chechnya-policy-murdered/375643/5 "2006-10-08T15:24:14Z")
For anyone interested in more detailed news about Chechnya than you will ever see published elsewhere in English, I highly recommend [this Yahoo group.](http://groups.yahoo.com/group/chechnya-sl/) Volunteers translate and post all sorts of stories from the global press. The consensus the past 24 hours is definitely that this was a political murder, and I’d be shocked to discover that it was anything else; and for that matter, the M.O. is exactly like what happened to [Galina Starovoitova,](http://www.russianamericanchamber.org/newsletter/starovoitova.html) one of the most amazing people I ever had the privilege to meet in person. Russia is not a happy place for anyone who believes in defending the human rights of others - what can I say? ---
**Author:** ![britboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/59ef9b/32.png) [@britboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/britboy)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2006, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-journalist-critical-of-putins-chechnya-policy-murdered/375643/6 "2006-10-08T16:00:37Z")
Unrelated tangent: Love politkovskaya’s work, unfortunately had cause to deal with her a few years back. At least with us, a complete bitch - total diva, hugely unreasonable demands and totally self-important. An important voice though, sorry to lose her. ---
**Author:** ![Timchik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@Timchik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Timchik)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2006, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-journalist-critical-of-putins-chechnya-policy-murdered/375643/7 "2006-10-08T19:55:03Z")
Good obituary in [_The Economist_](http://www.economist.com/agenda/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8018567), for anyone who wants a succinct description of why she mattered, and also hinting at **Britboy** ’s characterization of divaness, for all that matters. I don’t know - maybe you have to be self-important bitch to get things done, sometimes. God knows there aren’t many who had the ovaries to do what she did. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2006, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-journalist-critical-of-putins-chechnya-policy-murdered/375643/8 "2006-10-09T13:52:35Z")
When the TV said it was Putin’s birthday, my brother turned at me and said “ok, that clenches it: some sick fuck’s idea of a present.” We may have dirty minds, but if so, we’re going to Hell in the same wagon. ---
**Author:** ![Timchik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@Timchik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Timchik)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2006, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-journalist-critical-of-putins-chechnya-policy-murdered/375643/9 "2006-10-11T15:07:44Z")
And after four days of being conspicuously silent, Putin finds himself in a situation where he can’t avoid comment, in a press conference in a foreign country. And what does he [say](http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-anna11oct11,0,2599874.story?coll=la-home-world)? > [@](#): > > “This murder has done more damage to Russia — and the current authorities of Russia and Chechnya, which she has been covering lately in her work — than Politkovskaya’s articles,” Putin said in remarks broadcast here on state-run television. and just for good measure, so we know what [he thinks of her](http://www.newsru.com/russia/10oct2006/pp.html): > [@](#): > > I think that journalists should know, the level of her influence on the country’s political life was extremely insignificant. She was well-known in journalism and human rights circles, but her influence on political life in Russia was minimal. (translation mine) Classy, Volodya. He used to at least put up a front of saying the right things for Western consumption. ---
**Author:** ![groman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@groman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/groman)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2006, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-journalist-critical-of-putins-chechnya-policy-murdered/375643/10 "2006-10-14T19:16:54Z")
[QUOTE=Timchik] (translation mine) Classy, Volodya. He used to at least put up a front of saying the right things for Western consumption. [/QUOTE] Maybe they finally found at least one nuke that still works?