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JULY 26, 2004
Murder Most Foul In Moscow A journalist's killing casts more doubt on Russia's commitment to a civil society Few can deny that in recent years, under the Presidency of Vladimir V. Putin, Russia has become a more stable, orderly, and predictable society. That's certainly how it seemed to Paul Klebnikov, editor of the recently launched Russian edition of Forbes, the American financial publication, and many others. "Russian business has reached a new, more civilized stage of its development," he wrote in the magazine's first edition in April. Those words now seem tragically ironic, coming just a few weeks before Klebnikov's cold-blooded killing on June 10, when the journalist was shot dead in a contract-style murder outside his offices in Moscow. Murders of journalists, businessmen, and politicians are still depressingly common in Russia, though their frequency has been declining in recent years. But the murder of Klebnikov, 41, a U.S. citizen, is more than just one more entry in this grim catalog of assassinations. Even at the height of the violence in the 1990s, Russia's gangsters observed some limits. Klebnikov's murder is the first time a Western journalist has been killed. There are still few real pointers as to who may have ordered Klebnikov's killing or why. Boris Timoshenko from the Glasnost Defense Foundation in Moscow, an organization set up to defend journalists, says that while the police may be well-intentioned, their investigations often lead nowhere, because of pressure or intimidation by the groups responsible for such killings. "I fear this case won't be any different from the long-established practice: They may find the killers, but the people who hired them go unpunished," he says. One can only hope that Timoshenko will be proved wrong. But one thing is clear: The mood in Russia is darker than it was in March when Putin was reelected in a landslide victory. Putin started his new term by promising to continue reforms that would make society more prosperous and fair. That included clamping down on corrupt bureaucrats and judges, and pushing ahead with measures to liberalize the economy. But since then, the government of this law-and-order President has acted in ways that have prompted neither law nor order. The bureaucracy is in disarray after Putin slashed the number of government ministries in April, leading to long delays in getting approvals for foreign investments. The Central Bank helped spark a run on deposits by bungling a crackdown on shaky banks. Then there's the tax evasion case against the Yukos Oil Co., which has hammered investor confidence by pushing one of Russia's largest companies toward bankruptcy. Investors had hoped that the matter would quietly wind down after Putin's reelection. Instead, the confrontation has escalated. The longer it goes on, the more arbitrary it looks. Yukos recently has made several efforts to negotiate a settlement over paying back taxes but has been ignored or rebuffed. And the government is putting Yukos in an impossible position by freezing the company's assets while demanding that the company pay billions of dollars immediately. Punishing Khodorkovsky looks more important to Putin than strengthening the rule of law. At the same time, Putin has tightened state controls over television even further. Although Klebnikov's murder is not directly connected to the Yukos affair, it greatly adds to the growing disquiet about the rule of law and civil liberties in Putin's Russia -- and Putin's own ability to make Russia safer and more predictable. The authorities do have a chance to dispel the doubts about the justice system and their overall commitment to a civil society. They can push the investigation into Klebnikov's murder with the utmost vigor and bring all the culprits to justice. That's the kind of glasnost Russia badly needs.  By Jason Bush
BW MALL
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