Who Is Killing Russian Journalists?

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But not only journalists are getting killed, prominent politicians and bankers fall victims as well.

"It is not fair to point the finger at the Kremlin. High-profile killings are the toughest to investigate in any country, not only in Russia. Take, for instance, the murders of [Swedish Prime Minister] Olof Palme and [U.S. President] John Kennedy."

WHAT'S THE POINT?
When Anna Politkovskaya, the outspoken reporter and uncompromising critic of the government, was gunned down in the staircase of her apartment building in Moscow on 7 October, she became the fifth journalist that her publication, opposition newspaper Novaya Gazeta, has lost over the past decade.

Sergei Sokolov, deputy editor of Novaya Gazeta, said many of Anna's colleagues feel discouraged.

"After we learned that she was killed, the overall dark mood and depression was overwhelming," he recalls. "Our veterans then started to wonder whether we ought to close down the newspaper altogether. They were saying that our headquarters, once a bustling newsroom, now feels more like a funeral home. We seriously considered closing down, and it was entirely owing to the pressure from our younger staff that we made a decision to continue coming out."

Novaya Gazeta staff have been depressed not just because they have lost some of their brightest talent and closest friends. They have begun to doubt whether the effort they are making - risking their lives to tell their readers more than officials want them to know - is worth it anymore.

"The journalists don't feel that the audiences care very much," Sokolov said.

Though unsolved, Politkovskaya's death by shooting was rather straightforward. Others have been more complicated.

In July 2003, Yury Shchekochikhin, another journalist from Novaya Gazeta, and a member of the State Duma from the liberal Yabloko party, died after a short and mysterious illness. His colleagues and friends are convinced he was poisoned. His symptoms were in some ways remarkably similar to those of Alexander Litvinenko, who died in London in November. But prosecutors have not so far opened an investigation into the reporter's death.

Shchekochikhin fell ill suddenly during a trip to Ryazan to meet members of the local anti-corruption committee. With the journalist on that trip was Kabanov, of the Russian Anti-Corruption Committee.

On the car journey back to Moscow, Kabanov said, Shchekochikhin began to look strange and feel unwell.

"He complained about fatigue, and red blotches began to appear on his skin," Kabanov recalled. The next day they talked by phone. "He told me he was suffering severe vomiting and feeling extremely ill.

"After that his family and colleagues told me he'd been admitted to the hospital. His fever became extremely high. ... He lost consciousness. All his internal organs began collapsing one by one. Then almost all of his skin was severely damaged. Then he lost almost all his hair. Finally, he fell into a coma. He died within about two weeks ... on 3 July."

During the trip to Ryazan, Kabanov had noticed the journalist taking some large pills.

"He told me the medication was prescribed for him by a doctor at the Central Clinical Hospital, also known as 'the Kremlin hospital,' which caters to state officials," Kabanov said.

Shchekochikhin was taken to the same clinic after falling ill.

"Yury was assigned to the clinic as a lawmaker of the State Duma," Kabanov said. "The clinic is part of the presidential administration and all its activities are monitored by the [Federal Security Service]," Russia's secret police.

Kabanov, a former Federal Security Service anti-corruption officer, said he called a contact from one of the bureau's secret laboratories researching poisons. The expert, with more than 20 years of experience, said Shchekochikhin was most likely poisoned with thallium, a highly toxic metal.

"His hair was falling out in patches, and his skin was peeling off - he lost almost all his skin in the end," Kabanov recalled. "