A most dangerous game; Russian journalism

Yesterday saw the trial of three men accused of being involved in the 2006 murder of journalist Anna Politkovskaya end in their acquittal. The “involved” bit is important as the Russian authorities have yet to charge an individual with the actual murder. I suspect they, conveniently, never will.

On October 7th, 2006 an out spoken critic of Russia’s Chechen conflict, journalist and author Anna Politkovskaya, entered her Moscow apartment building and met her violent, bloody demise at the end of an assassin’s pistol. Poltikovskaya was found, shot once through the head, thrice the body and lifeless in the elevator. Her public criticism of the Russian regimes practices in Chechnya was brought to a quick and final end.

A week later, an ex KGB agent turned author and journalist dared to point an accusatory finger, from the apparent solace of his London residence, at then President, Vladimir Putin. Two weeks after that accusation, Alexander Litvinenko lay in a hospital bed, hairless and dying from a not exactly common exposure to the lethally radioactive isotope, polonium-210. Litvinenko allegedly attributed his own demise in a final written statement:

Name the bastard. Anna Politkovskaya did not do it, so I will, for both of us. You may succeed in silencing one man but the howl of protest from around the world will reverberate, Mr Putin, in your ears for the rest of your life. May God forgive you for what you have done, not only to me but to beloved Russia and its people.

Since the beginning of the 21st century, some 16 Russian journalists have met their end in murderous or “questionable” circumstances. The most recent being Anastasia Baburova who was gunned down this past January.

As a kid I was terrified of the Soviet empire and the cataclysmic potential of it’s vast nuclear arsenal.

This current remnant is a pathetic shell of it’s former self. A greasy, thuggish after thought, wholly reliant on energy blackmail, regional bullying and increasing domestic tyranny. The Russian people are better and deserve better than this.