Russia: deep shock at murder of Anna Politkovskaya

by Tom Parfitt

Moscow (Observer News Servce)

Moscow shocked as woman who exposed Kremlin dirty war in Chechnya is assassinated.

In a killing that sent shock waves across Russia, Anna Politkovskaya, the courageous journalist who did most to uncover the Kremlin's dirty war in Chechnya, was assassinated in her Moscow apartment building on Saturday. Her body was found slumped in an elevator next to a pistol and four bullets.

Politkovskaya, 48, was a constant critic of the Kremlin and her murder will throw suspicion on the security services and the pro-Moscow regime that now holds sway in Chechnya. The London Observer is reporting that she was half way through writing a book which, according to her agent, included her theories on why the Russian state wanted her dead. Last night, about 70 journalists gathered at cordons outside the entrance hall to Politkovskaya's white granite apartment block in central Moscow. The city's chief prosecutor rushed to the scene.

A tall, elegant figure with wire-grey hair and black clothes, she was recognised across the world for her principled stand against two brutal wars prosecuted by Moscow in Chechnya, which left hundreds of thousands dead, injured or missing. Her death comes two days after one of her most hated opponents, pro-Moscow Prime Minister of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, celebrated his 30th birthday, and on the day of Vladimir Putin's 57th birthday, prompting speculation that one of her enemies may have served up the assassination as a present. Yulia Latynina, a newspaper commentator, said: 'All her publications of the last few months were about Kadyrov. Politkovskaya hated him. And two days ago was his birthday. From here can only be one motive.'

There seemed little doubt her death was connected with her writing. 'I believe that this was a political assassination. She was a bold woman, who had many enemies,' said veteran rights campaigner Lyudmila Alexeyeva, head of the Moscow Helsinki Group. Oleg Orlov, head of the Russian human rights centre Memorial, said: 'We are all shocked by what has happened. Obviously, this is an attempt to shut up an honest and independent journalist. She had been threatened repeatedly. It is a serious loss for civil society, journalism, and Russia as a whole.'

Politkovskaya's enemies had threatened her with death on numerous occasions and she claimed to have survived a poisoning attempt. Last night police were hunting a thin, young man in a baseball cap seen close the scene ofthe murder, which took place at about 4.30pm local time.

While her critics accused her of being partisan in her reports on the brutality of Russian federal forces, Politkovskaya did not hold back from criticising the Chechen rebels, who resorted to increasingly brutal terror attacks in recent years. Her speciality, however, was exposing the horror, corruption and chaos wrought on civilian victims of the first war in Chechnya from 1994 to 1996 and the one that followed from 2000 onwards.

Her articles for the bi-weekly Novaya Gazeta won numerous awards and she wrote two books about Chechnya, A Dirty War and A Small Corner of Hell--plus a highly critical political biography of President Vladimir Putin. She also wrote several dispatches for The Observer's sister paper, the Guardian.

During the Beslan school siege in 2004 she tried to travel to southern Russia to negotiate with the rebels holding the school, but mysteriously fell ill, leading her to suspect she had been poisoned to prevent an intervention that could have embarrassed the Kremlin. As the second Chechen war turned from a full scale conflict in to skirmishing between rebels and pro-Moscow forces, Politkovskaya turned her ire on the former rebel who became prime minister this year, Ramzan Kadyrov.

Peter Preston, former chairman of the International Press Institute, and a British media commentator, said: 'Anna was already a legend wherever journalists met to praise the bravest and the best, for her coverage of Chechnya. It was, and is, one of the most dangerous assignments anywhere and her readiness to expose excesses on both sides made her the most famous Russian reporter of the era, a reproach to the authorities who tried to muzzle her.'