Tag: Journalists

Whether or not Putin is behind it, a lot of Journalists have ended up dead in Russia.

The dangers to journalists in Russia have been well-known since the early 1990s but concern over the number of unsolved killings soared after Anna Politkovskaya’s murder in Moscow on 7 October, 2006. Russia has become one of the most dangerous countries for journalists. Besides numerous cases of assault and battery as well as frequent threats against media representatives, there has been a string of suspicious deaths among prominent Russian reporters. Some of these incidents have attracted international attention since they involved leading critics of the Russian government. The failure of Russian law enforcement agencies to secure a court conviction in any of these cases has only deepened the mystery surrounding the murders.

Here’s all of the Russian Journalists who were killed during the Obama administration during which Hillary Clinton famously handed the Russians a ‘Reset Button‘.

2009

30 March – Sergei Protazanov, layout artist with Grazhdanskoye soglasie newspaper, Khimki nr. Moscow. Link to work questioned.

29 June – Vyacheslav Yaroshenko, chief editor of Corruption and Criminality newspaper in Volgograd died after a severe head injuries in June. He was allegedly struck in the temple by the unknown assailant, although the local police claims fall from the ladder as the reason for injury.

15 July – Natalia Estemirova, a human rights activist with Memorial, who worked with journalists from Novaya gazeta, especially Anna Politkovskaya, and occasionally published in the newspaper herself, having been a TV reporter pre-1999. After years of investigating murders and kidnapping in Chechnya, Estemirova was herself abducted that morning in Grozny and found shot to death by the roadside several hours later in neighbouring Ingushetia.

11 August – Malik Akhmedilov, deputy chief editor of the Avar language newspaper Khakikat (Truth), was found shot dead near the Dagestan capital Makhachkala.

25 October – Maksharip Aushev was shot dead in Nalchik, capital of Kabardino-Balkaria. When Magomed Yevloyev gave up running Ingushetia.ru, and his replacement (Rosa Malsagova) had to flee abroad to escape threats and harassment, Aushev ran the successor website Ingushetia.org. Link to past or present work unclear.

16 November – Olga Kotovskaya, Kaskad radio & TV company, Kaliningrad. Died in a fall from 14th storey-building under suspicious circumstances. Investigation under “Incitement to suicide”.

2010

20 January – Konstantin Popov died from a beating received a fortnight earlier by Russian police in a detoxification centre for the drunk and disorderly. A 26-year-old police sergeant was charged with his killing.

23 February – Journalist Ivan Stepanov was stabbed to death at his dacha. The murderers have been arrested and sentenced to 16 and 18 years of prison.

20 March – Maxim Zuyev was found murdered in a Kaliningrad flat he was renting. Seven years earlier he was interrogated by the city’s police for publishing an anonymous letter alleging corruption among high-ranking police officers in the enclave. The Investigative Committee has marked the case as “crime solved.

5 May – Shamil Aliyev, founder of two radio stations and a director of TV network was shot in his car by two unidentified attackers, who also killed his bodyguard and wounded his driver.

13 May – Said Magomedov, director of local television station, Sergokalinsky district, Dagestan. Shot dead when travelling with repairmen to restore sabotaged TV transmitter.

25 June – Dmitry Okkert, Moscow. A presenter with the Expert TV channel, Okkert was found stabbed to death in his own apartment. The director of the Expert media holding, Valery Fadeyev, does not believe that the brutal killing of his colleague was linked to his journalistic activities.

25 July – Bella Ksalova, Cherkessk. A correspondent for the Caucasian Knot website and news agency, Ksalova died in a hospital after being hit by a car near her home. The driver was sentenced to 3 1/4 years in penal colony.

1 August – Malika Betiyeva, Grozny-Shatoi highway. The deputy chief editor of Molodyozhnaya smena, and Chechnya correspondent of the “Dosh” (Word) magazine, died with four of her immediate family when a speeding jeep crashed into her car.

11 August – Magomed Sultanmagomedov, Makhachkala. The director of the Makhachkala TV station died in the hospital after his car was shot at from another vehicle. This was preceded by an attempted bombing on 18 November 2008.

23 October – Yevgeny Fedotov died in a hospital due to the head injuries received in a violent quarrel with his neighbour. The latter has been charged for manslaughter.

2011

15 December – Gadzhimurat Kamalov, Makhachkala. Investigative reporter – shot 6 times in a drive-by outside his newspaper’s offices.

2012

7 July – Alexander Khodzinsky, journalist in Tulun, was stabbed to death by a local businessman Gennady Zhigarev, former deputy. 5 December – Kazbek Gekkiev, journalist for local TV programmes in Kabardino-Balkaria, was shot dead on a Nalchik street, after getting threats from local wahhabi extremists.

2013

9 July – Akhmednabi Akhmednabiyev, deputy editor of the Novoe Delo was killed (after numerous death threats and previous assassination attempt in January 2013 by several gunshots while he was driving just 50 metres from his house on the outskirts of provincial capital Makhachkala.

2014

1 August – Journalist and human rights activist Timur Kuashev was abducted from his home and later found dead in Kabardino-Balkaria. Kuashev was previously stopped by local police a number of times and received death threats.

2016

March 31 – Journalist Dmitry Tsilikin was stabbed to death in his flat in Saint Petersburg. The suspected killer is neo-nazi Sergey Kosyrev. The murder is attributed to Tsilikin’s homosexual orientation.

2017

March 17 – Yevgeny Khamaganov died of unexplained causes in Ulan-Ude. Khamaganov was known for writing articles that criticized the federal government and was allegedly beaten by unknown assailants on March 10.