American Journalist Killed in Moscow

Paul Klebnikov, an American born in New York to Russian parents, was a journalist with Forbes magazine's Russian edition. He published stories that put a spotlight on Russia's richest people, suggesting many of them came by their wealth unethically if not illegally. Friday, he was shot four times and died on the way to the hospital. There's more than one way to get rid of a free press.

When the Soviet Union collapsed, a different kind of Marxism arranged for the disposal of the country's assets -- to each according to his greed, and to each according to his agility. As a result, the wealth of a nation wound up in the hands of a few. Mikhail Khodorkovsky is worth about $15 billion given his ownership of the oil giant Yukos (and he is in jail for tax evasion and being a threat to President Putin's power). Second is billionaire twelve times over, Roman Abramovich, who wisely left Russia, bought the Chelsea soccer team, and is now Britain's richest man. But the man who Mr. Klebnikov had it in for the most was Boris Berezhovsky.

In 1996, Mr. Berezhovsky sued Forbes for libel for an article by Mr. Klebnikov. Essentially, the tycoon's honesty was called into question in the piece, and the magazine settled it with a retraction. In 2000, a book called Godfather of the Kremlin bore Mr. Klebnikov's name and was rather critical of Mr. Berezhovsky. Mr. Berezhovsky successfully fought extradition to Russia, won political asylum in the UK and now operates under a new name.

There is no reason to believe that Mr. Berezhovsky put out a contract on Mr. Klebnikov's life. There is likely to be no evidence of anything -- the Russian police are not known for their effectiveness in solving crimes like this. But the point is that Mr. Klebnikov made a lot of rich and powerful people feel awkward. And as the locals are reporting that this has the hallmarks of a gangland hit, there is certainly reason to believe that one or more of them ordered it.

Mr. Klebnikov is the first American journalist killed in Russia, but there have been almost four dozen attacks on Russian writers and TV reporters in the last year. The government has been rather unsuccessful in stopping the attacks, in part because it doesn't really want a free press either. President Putin can have a retraction from this insignificant e-journal when the killers are brought to justice -- one expects a long wait.


© Copyright 2004 by The Kensington Review, J. Myhre, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent.


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