Anna Politkovskaya. Biography of Anna Politkovskaya Katya Politkovskaya

Russian journalist and human rights activist, winner of many Russian and international awards. She is widely known for her publications on the conflict in Chechnya.

Childhood, education, personal life

She was born in New York, where her parents were on diplomatic work. Mazepa received her maiden name from her father, Stepan Mazepa, an employee of the Ukrainian SSR mission to the UN. According to her friends, at school she was fond of Tsvetaeva’s videos. In 1980 she graduated from the Faculty of Journalism of Moscow State University. M. V. Lomonosov. Her thesis was dedicated to the work of Marina Tsvetaeva. While studying at Moscow State University, she met and married Alexander Politkovsky, who studied at the same faculty, but was 5 years older than her. From this marriage, the Politkovskys had two children, Ilya and Vera, however, according to Alexander himself, in 2000 the marriage actually broke up, although they were not officially divorced. Anna paid a lot of attention to the children and was a good housewife. Alexander Politkovsky's career developed rapidly during perestroika, but began to decline in the post-perestroika period after the murder of Vlad Listyev, while Anna gradually gained fame thanks to her sharp journalistic reports. In the early 1990s, Politkovskaya received US citizenship as someone born in this country (by birthright), while remaining a Russian citizen.

Journalistic activity

In 1982-1993, she worked for the newspapers Izvestia and Air Transport, the creative association ESKART, and the publishing house Paritet. In 1994-1999 - columnist, editor of the emergency department of the Obshchaya Gazeta.

Since 1999 - columnist " Novaya Gazeta" Politkovskaya repeatedly traveled to combat areas. For a series of reports from Chechnya in January 2000, Anna Politkovskaya was awarded the Golden Pen of Russia award. She was awarded: the prize of the Union of Journalists of the Russian Federation “A good deed - a kind heart”, the prize of the Union of Journalists for materials on the fight against corruption, the diploma “Golden Gong 2000” for a series of materials about Chechnya.

Author of the documentary books “Journey to Hell. Chechen Diary”, “The Second Chechen”, as well as Putin’s Russia (“Putin’s Russia”), published in the UK. Her last publication in Novaya Gazeta - “Punitive Conspiracy” - was devoted to the composition and activities of Chechen detachments fighting on the side of the federal forces.

Human rights activities

In addition to journalism, Politkovskaya was engaged in human rights activities, helped the mothers of dead soldiers defend their rights in the courts, conducted investigations into corruption in the Ministry of Defense, the command of the United Group of Federal Forces in Chechnya, and helped victims of Nord-Ost.

She sharply criticized the current government - here, for example, are lines from her book “Putin’s Russia”:

“Why do I dislike Putin so much? That's exactly why. For callousness, which is worse than a crime, for his cynicism, racism, for his lies, for the gas he used during the siege of Nord-Ost, for the beating of babies, which continued throughout his entire first presidential term.”

By “the massacre of the infants” (a historical parallel with King Herod), the author means the death of children during the fighting in Chechnya.

February 2001 - Anna Politkovskaya was detained in the village of Khotuni on the territory of Chechnya and expelled for staying without accreditation in the zone of the anti-terrorist operation. Politkovskaya reported about kidnappings, extortion by persons posing as FSB officers, as well as a filtration camp for Chechens at the 45th Airborne Regiment, where, according to her information, torture was practiced. The military rejected these claims.

September 2001 - Anna Politkovskaya, in her publication “Disappearing People,” accused police officers assigned to the Chechen Ministry of Internal Affairs of killing civilians. In March 2005, one of the “heroes” of the publication was sentenced to 11 years.

February 2002 - Anna Politkovskaya disappeared during a business trip to Chechnya and reappeared a few days later in Nazran, Ingushetia, claiming that she had to hide from the FSB, which wanted to interfere with her investigation into the killings of civilians.

October 2002 - participated in negotiations with terrorists who captured spectators of the musical “Nord-Ost” in Moscow, carried water to the hostages.

Since 2003, Anna Politkovskaya has accused Ramzan Kadyrov and his subordinates of kidnappings, extortion and other crimes.

September 2, 2004 - Anna Politkovskaya, during the hostage crisis at a Beslan school, flew to Beslan, hoping to act as a mediator in the negotiations, but on the plane, after drinking tea, she lost consciousness 10 minutes later and was hospitalized in Rostov-on-Don in serious condition with a diagnosis of " poisoning by unknown toxins.” The tests taken from Politkovskaya immediately upon entering the hospital were destroyed. Politkovskaya's liver, kidneys and endocrine system were seriously damaged. Politkovskaya believed that FSB officers were trying to poison her. According to Politkovskaya, she was “removed from the field” to prevent her from carrying out her plan to resolve the situation. She claimed that the 12th KGB laboratory, which was engaged in the production of poisons, had resumed work in Russia (this laboratory is accused of poisoning Politkovskaya by former BBC correspondent in Moscow Martin Sixsmith, citing a source in the FSB. The airline on which Politkovskaya was flying stated: “ There was no way to poison Politkovskaya with tea - it was poured to all passengers from the same teapot. There were no complaints from other passengers. But Anna, as the flight attendant on that flight told us, began to feel sick shortly after lunch, and she lost consciousness. hospital. There they told him that it was most likely not poisoning, but some kind of viral infection.”

Murder

Politkovskaya was shot dead in the elevator of her building in the center of Moscow (Lesnaya Street, building 8) on October 7, 2006. Police officers found a Makarov pistol and four shell casings next to the body. Initial information indicated a contract killing, as four shots were fired, including a shot to the head. As of September 2007, the masterminds of the crime had not been found.

Novaya Gazeta editor Dmitry Muratov said that Politkovskaya, on the day of her murder, was planning to hand over a lengthy work about the practice of torture used by the Chechen authorities. According to Muratov, the article accused the security forces of pro-Moscow Chechen Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov of using torture. The day after the murder, the police took the hard drive and the material for the article. According to Muratov, two photographs of the suspected torturers disappeared.

Investigation

According to information leaked to the press, the progress of the investigation was as follows. The investigative team, after analyzing data from surveillance cameras, managed to identify the car in which the alleged killers drove up to the house. The car belonged to the family of killers from Chechnya, the Makhmudov brothers, from the so-called “Lazan” group (after the name of the “Lasanya” restaurant in Moscow on Pyatnitskaya Street - according to other sources, the name of the restaurant is supposedly “Alazan”. The leader of this group, Nukhaev, is accused of the murder of Paul Klebnikov ). It was also established that shortly before the murder (in September), Politkovskaya’s address was “punched” into the FSB database by FSB Colonel Pavel Ryaguzov, who immediately subsequently called his long-time acquaintance (and, presumably, agent), the former head of the Achkhoy-Martan region of Chechnya Shamil Buraev. Since Politkovskaya lived at a new address, a police surveillance team was hired by the alleged killers to establish her place of residence. According to investigators, the link between the groups was a former operative officer of the ethnic department of the RUBOP, an acquaintance of Ryaguzov, Sergei Khadzhikurbanov.

According to investigators, the organizer of the criminal group was one of the leaders of the “Lazan” group, Magomed Dimelkhanov. In the spring of 2006, the latter received an order to kill Politkovskaya, since “big people in Chechnya had serious complaints” against the journalist. The execution of the order was entrusted to the Makhmudov brothers, who brought in the market trader and gang driver Akhmed Isaev. Trying to establish Politkovskaya's address, the criminals turned to Khadzhikurbanov, who put them in touch with Ryaguzov, who passed on the address and supplied the gang with information about Politkovskaya's telephone conversations. In addition, Khadzhikurbanov organized surveillance of Politkovskaya, turning for help to employees of the operational search department of the Moscow Main Internal Affairs Directorate Dmitry Lebedev, Dmitry Grachev and Oleg Alimov. A former policeman who worked in a private security company, Alexey Berkin, was also involved. At the same time, it is alleged that representatives of the security forces were allegedly not aware of the real purpose of surveillance of Politkovskaya.

In August 2007, 10 people were arrested in connection with the murder of Politkovskaya: Alexei Berkin, Dmitry Lebedev, Tamerlan Makhmudov, Dzhabrail Makhmudov, Ibragim Makhmudov, Oleg Alimov, Magomed Dimelkhanov, Akhmed Isaev, Sergei Khadzhikurbanov and Dmitry Grachev. Following this, Ryaguzov and Buraev were arrested. However, according to the press, policeman Berkin was soon released under arrest for lack of evidence, while Khadzhikurbanov, according to the press, turned out to have an alibi (he was in prison from 2004 to the end of 2006). According to other sources, Khadzhikurbanov was released before the murder of Politkovskaya (according to Novaya Gazeta - in September.

Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation Yuri Chaika, during his meeting with the President of the Russian Federation, clarified that the murder was being prepared by two groups - the first followed the journalist, and the second controlled the first. Former employees of the operational search department of the Central Internal Affairs Directorate are suspected of spying on Politkovskaya: Alexey Berkin, Dmitry Lebedev, Oleg Alimov and Dmitry Grachev. The second group consisted mainly of natives of the Chechen Republic: Dzhabrail Makhmudov, his brothers Tamerlan and Ibragim, the alleged leader of the group Magomed Dimelkhanov, as well as former operative of the Moscow Organized Crime Control Department Sergei Khadzhikurbanov.

The prosecutor general named the motive for the crime:

...destabilization of the situation in the country, changes in the constitutional order, the formation of crises in Russia, a return to the previous system of government, when everything was decided by money and oligarchs...

The person who ordered the murder remains unknown, although the prosecutor's office said that this is a person living abroad and personally acquainted with Politkovskaya. Coincidentally, Russian President Vladimir Putin came to a similar conclusion just 3 days after the murder. According to some experts and journalists, the Prosecutor General is hinting at Boris Berezovsky, who lives in the United Kingdom and met with Politkovskaya. But there are other versions. According to one of them, the Prosecutor General's Office is trying to divert suspicion from the Chechen authorities, since two days before the murder, Anna Politkovskaya announced that she planned to act as a witness in the case of torture and abductions in Chechnya, carried out under the leadership of Ramzan Kadyrov. Also, according to one version, the prosecutor's office suspects the former head of YUKOS, Leonid Nevzlin, who now lives in Israel, as the customer.

On August 27, 2007, the head of the Internal Security Service of the FSB of the Russian Federation announced that Lieutenant Colonel Pavel Ryaguzov, an employee of the service for the Central Administrative District of Moscow of the FSB Directorate for Moscow and the Moscow Region, was accused of the murder of Anna Politkovskaya.

On September 21, 2007, the investigation brought charges under Article 33 and Article 105 of the Criminal Code (complicity in murder in the form of aiding and abetting) against the former head of the Achkhoy-Martan district of the Chechen Republic, Shamil Buraev. The investigation suspects that Buraev turned to Ryaguzov with a request to find out Politkovskaya’s residential address and then Buraev handed it over to the Makhmudov brothers.

Versions of murder

Journalists and analysts put forward various versions of Politkovskaya's murder. According to one version, the leadership of the Chechen Republic is involved in the murder, according to another - the Russian authorities, according to the third version - the murder of Politkovskaya on Vladimir Putin's birthday is a provocation against him and Ramzan Kadyrov, according to the fourth version, the murder was beneficial to the West and the opposition.

According to Elena Tregubova, Politkovskaya could have been killed by two people: the President of Chechnya Kadyrov or the deputy head of the Russian Presidential Administration Igor Sechin. Tregubova reported that shortly before her death, Politkovskaya said in an interview that Sechin, in a private conversation, spoke very rudely and offensively towards Putin, namely in words that cannot be conveyed in an official setting.

Political scientist, board member of the Development Institute foundation, expert of the website kremlin.org Pavel Svyatenkov stated that the murder of the journalist is beneficial to the West, as it allows it to more actively influence the 2008 presidential elections in Russia.

Journalist Andrei Karaulov is confident that the murder of Politkovskaya is beneficial primarily to those who “talk about it the most.” “In any case, this death is not needed by the authorities - this is an obvious fact, and the fact that the opposition is already dancing on blood today, in my opinion, speaks volumes,” the journalist believes.

President of the Politika Foundation Vyacheslav Nikonov does not see political forces within Russia that would benefit from the murder of Politkovskaya: “Deal with a journalist who constantly travels to Chechnya, in the center of Moscow, on Putin’s birthday, on the eve of the president’s trip to the West? Obviously this is just ridiculous."

The editor-in-chief of the Moscow News newspaper, Vitaly Tretyakov, believes that in the current conditions, the Kremlin and Russian special services have already forgotten about the existence of Politkovskaya and only the murder reminded her of her. According to Tretyakov, in any case, the Russian special services had the opportunity, if they wanted, to “remove” Politkovskaya much earlier and on the territory of the North Caucasus, where no one would have found any leads at all. According to the journalist, Ramzan Kadyrov “himself spoke so often and impartially about Politkovskaya that one would have to be a complete idiot to then give the order for her liquidation.” The journalist notes that Politkovskaya was killed right before Vladimir Putin’s visit to Germany. According to Tretyakov, it was impossible to provide a worse service to Putin. Tretyakov comes to the conclusion that it is the murder of Politkovskaya that makes life most difficult for Kadyrov and especially the Kremlin. The journalist believes that the Kremlin and the Russian special services have nothing to do with the murder of Politkovskaya and cannot have anything to do with it, because, in addition to herself and her family, they are the main victims in this case. Consequently, Tretyakov concludes, the murder of Politkovskaya is a purely political provocation directed against Putin or Ramzan Kadyrov, and precisely timed, with an eye on the first address rather than the second.

According to the text of the email sent to the Gulag website (owned by the American non-profit organization) and signed with the names of members of the Chechen armed formation created by Ramzan Kadyrov and subordinate to Movladi Baysarov: Timur from Art. Kirov, Aslambek from/for Lenin, Imran Kurkaev nicknamed Ipan from Samashki, Adam nicknamed Dentist and Roman Karnukaev from Samashki, Politkovskaya was killed by the authors of the letter on the orders of Ramazan Kadyrov and with the participation of an FSB colonel named Dranets. The editors of the Gulag website admit that they “do not have the opportunity to verify this information.”

According to the website Polit.ru, investigators investigating Politkovskaya’s murder believe that her murder was “an initiative from below” and that “she could have been killed by one of the people fanatically loyal to those involved in her publications. And what pushed him to kill was, perhaps, a phrase uttered in the hearts of an offended official or commander.”

On October 19, 2006, at one of the round tables where the topic of Politkovskaya’s murder was discussed, Alexander Litvinenko stated that Putin personally conveyed threats to Politkovskaya through Russian politician Irina Khakamada. Irina Khakamada herself commented on this statement by Litvinenko as follows: “Three years have passed since I was last in the Kremlin. For three years I did not visit the Kremlin - I did not go to Putin, or to Surkov, or to anyone else. (...) This is nonsense, you see, I can’t say anything, this is nonsense. I think that Litvinenko did not know anything. He has lived in London for a long time, so I don’t understand how he could know.”

Human rights activist Lyudmila Alekseeva is confident that the reason for Politkovskaya’s murder is her professional activity: “She denounced violence and defended the victims of this violence.” MP State Duma Vladimir Ryzhkov said: “She was involved in Beslan, she was involved in Nord-Ost, she was involved in corruption and Chechnya - here we must look for motives.”

Novaya Gazeta journalist Vyacheslav Izmailov suggested that the murder could have been organized by “Chechens associated with the special services.” Other versions proposed by Izmailov included revenge by Chechen Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov for exposing kidnappings and murders that could have been carried out on his instructions. Izmailov also suggested revenge by riot police officers from Nizhnevartovsk, one of whom, Sergei Lapin (nickname “Cadet”), thanks articles by Politkovskaya, was convicted of kidnapping and murder in Chechnya.

In addition to the main versions of the involvement of Kadyrov or federal military personnel, the investigative team did not rule out that the murder was the work of Kadyrov’s opponents, who thus want to discredit him, or of unnamed customers “from abroad” with the expectation of undermining the prestige of the state. Government journalist Russian newspaper» Natalya Kozlova suggested that Boris Berezovsky or Akhmed Zakaev organized the murder to create a reason for criticism of the Russian government.

Funeral of Anna Politkovskaya

Comments from officials

Russia

Russian Presidential Human Rights Commissioner Vladimir Lukin said: “She was a human rights activist and journalist in the true sense of the word, a hero of Russia.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin said:

... this murder in itself causes much more damage and harm to the current authorities both in Russia and in the Chechen Republic, which she has been involved in professionally lately, than her publications

(See also Answers to questions asked during an interview with the ARD TV channel and an Interview with the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper.)

Chairman of the Government of the Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov stated:

I want to emphasize that despite the fact that Politkovskaya’s materials about Chechnya were not always objective, I sincerely and humanly feel sorry for the journalist (...) To encroach on the life of a journalist means to interfere with freedom of speech, which is unacceptable in a democratic society. What happened is a serious reason to think and draw serious conclusions.

PACE

On January 25, 2007, at the PACE session in Strasbourg, a report “Threats to the life and freedom of expression of journalists” (author - British MP Andrew Mackintosh) was heard, submitted for discussion instead of the withdrawn resolution on Russian-Georgian relations. The report expressed concern to PACE about “numerous attacks and threats to the lives and freedom of speech of journalists in Europe” in 2006 and January 2007, while specifically mentioning the murders of Armenian journalist Hrant Dink in Turkey and Anna Politkovskaya. The draft resolution proposed a clause that PACE calls on Russian parliamentarians to “conduct independent parliamentary investigations into the murder of Anna Politkovskaya.”

At the insistence of the Russian delegation, the text was changed to read: “national parliaments must monitor criminal investigations and accept the responsibility of the authorities not only for the lack of investigation, but also for the lack of results, for example, the Russian parliament regarding the murder of Anna Politkovskaya.” .

The head of the Russian delegation, Konstantin Kosachev, said that parliamentarians have no reason not to trust the investigative authorities: “State Duma deputies are in full contact with Politkovskaya’s relatives and colleagues. And according to our feelings, they have no complaints against the investigative authorities.”

Assessments of Politkovskaya's activities

According to former president Lithuania Vytautas Landsbergis, Politkovskaya “stood selflessly, steadfastly and looked straight into the eyes of the new, or that is, resurgent, Russian fascism. (...) She stood for the humiliated and insulted, against untruth and autocracy.”

According to nationalist journalist, editor-in-chief of the newspaper Spetsnaz Rossii Konstantin Krylov, Politkovskaya’s work was based on fierce hatred of “this country.” Some of her articles, from Krylov’s point of view, were based on unverifiable fabrications and lies.

According to the German newspaper Die Welt, Politkovskaya “served as living proof of the unique power that the printed word has.” The German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung noted that “in times of tightening censorship and self-censorship in Russian media this courageous and at the same time fragile woman persistently continued to talk about atrocities in Chechnya and in the armed forces of the Russian Federation. She was the last critical voice to reach public attention both in Russia and abroad. All other voices have long been drowned out (...) With her publications about persecuted and defenseless people, who were only a faceless mass for those in power, Anna Politkovskaya endowed them not only with a voice, but also with the dignity of which they were deprived. Someone called it the human conscience. In this role, Politkovskaya did not know diplomatic language."

According to Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov, Politkovskaya’s materials in Chechnya were read “like children’s fairy tales” because, according to Kadyrov, “she wrote what she heard, based on rumors.”

According to the regional movement “Chechen Committee of National Salvation”:

There are many people left in the North Caucasus who are deeply grateful to Anna Politkovskaya and who felt a personal loss during her murder. Perhaps there are more people grateful to Anna Politkovskaya in the North Caucasus than anywhere else in Russia. Only thanks to Anna Politkovskaya did people receive their last consolation. The atrocities of the mobile detachments of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the FSB of the Russian Federation deprived many people in the Caucasus of peace and life. It was Anna Politkovskaya who boldly revealed this terrible truth and broke through the barrier between the press and individual human tragedies. And only thanks to her, someone was able to learn about trampled lives, about the grief of mothers, sisters... The name of Anna Politkovskaya today has become synonymous with journalistic courage and love of truth!

According to the head of the ChCNS, human rights activist Ruslan Badalov, “Reading her materials, we lit up, why she is Russian, a Muscovite, bolder than we speak about our pain, and we even felt ashamed. By doing this, she spurred us on to do more work.”

According to the commander of the “Highlander” detachment, Movladi Baysarov, “When I was with Akhmad Kadyrov, what she wrote was not always convenient for us. But everything she said was true.” Baysarov volunteered to tell the prosecutor everything he knew about Politkovskaya’s murder, but soon after that he was killed by a special group sent by Kadyrov.

According to the leader of the association of victims of the terrorist attack on Dubrovka, ROO “Nord-Ost” Tatyana Karpova, Politkovskaya helped the participants in the events on Dubrovka survive. According to her, “there was practically no family where Anna had not visited, in families from whom the Putin regime took away the most precious thing - their children.”

According to Lyudmila Alekseeva, head of the Moscow Helsinki Group, Politkovskaya fought against lawlessness, violence, and lies. She proved that even one person in the field is a warrior.

According to Alexander Cherkasov, a board member of the Memorial society, Politkovskaya “was a rare representative of the breed of human rights journalists in our time” who wrote “not about trials, not about global subjects, such as conspiracies and alliances of politicians, but about life individuals, about how all these actions of politicians affect the lives of individual, specific people. She was quite involved in the Russian human rights community.”

Yasen Zasursky, dean of the Faculty of Journalism at Moscow State University, of which Anna Politkovskaya was a graduate, said: “Her death is a blow to our journalism, a blow to the conscience of our journalism, because she represented the conscience of our journalism. I think that we will all remember Anna Politkovskaya as an honest journalist devoted to the ideals of free, humane journalism, journalism that fights corruption and human rights violations.”

The image of Politkovskaya in art

On October 7, 2007, in connection with the anniversary of the death of Anna Politkovskaya, the premiere of the play “Putin’s Birthday,” written by the German female director Petra-Louise Mayer, took place in Potsdam (Germany). The play is based on reports by Anna Politkovskaya herself and on publications about her. Among the characters in the play are President Putin and former German Chancellor Schroeder, who, on the day of Anna Politkovskaya's death, joins the celebration of Putin's birthday.

Streets named after Politkovskaya

The City Hall of Rome decided to name one of the city streets after Politkovskaya. It should be noted that the Moscow authorities refused to allow Politkovskaya’s colleagues to install a memorial plaque on her house after her death, citing the fact that five years had not yet passed since her death. On the other hand, Kadyrov Street was renamed 3.5 months after his death, despite the protests of Muscovites.

Mass protests after the death of Anna Politkovskaya

During Putin’s trip to Dresden, immediately after the murder of Anna Politkovskaya, a picket was held, the picketers held signs with the inscription “Murderer, you are persona non grata here.” Before Putin’s arrival, German Chancellor Angela Merkel approached the protesters and promised to talk with Putin about the murder of Politkovskaya. As Putin got out of his car, one of the protesters, 28-year-old Veit Kuehne, shouted at Putin: “Murderer, murderer.” In the interview, White said he condemns the killing of journalists in Russia and wants to make it clear that Putin is not welcome in Germany. According to him, Putin looked in his direction, and the cries of “murderer, murderer” followed him until he disappeared into the building. Both photographs and reports of the killer's cries traveled around the world. When the next day, before leaving for Munich, Putin bought the local newspaper “Dresdner Neuesten Nachrichten”, on the front page there was a photograph with a poster “Murderer, Murderer”.

On October 16, 2006, when at 16:00 in Nazran the authorities dispersed the pre-declared picket in memory of Anna Politkovskaya with extreme cruelty and obscenities. Five picket participants were detained for 9 hours; human rights activist from the Memorial, Ekaterina Sokiryanskaya, was taken to the Regional Clinical Hospital with a broken nasal bone and a concussion.

Awards for journalism

2000 “Golden Pen of Russia” Award

2000 Diploma “Golden Gong 2000” for a series of materials about Chechnya

2001 Prize of the Union of Journalists of the Russian Federation “A good deed - a kind heart”

2001 Amnesty International Global Award for Human Rights Journalism

Prize of the Union of Journalists of the Russian Federation for materials on the fight against corruption

2002 Award of the A.D. Sakharov Foundation “For Journalism as an Act” (established by human rights activist Petr Vince)

2002 International Women's Press Fund Award for Courage in Journalism - for reporting on the war in Chechnya

2003 OSCE Annual Prize for Journalism and Democracy - “in support of courageous and professional journalism, for human rights and media freedom”

2003 Lettre Ulysses Award - for a book of reports published on French entitled “Chechnya is a shame for Russia.”

2003 Hermann Kersten Medal and Prize (German PEN Center) - for courageous coverage of events in Chechnya

2004 Olof Palme Prize (Stockholm)

2005 Freedom and Future of the Press Award (Leipzig)

2006 - Artyom Borovik Award for the best investigative journalism (established by the CBS television company and the weekly US News and World Report together with the Foreign Press Club of America, awarded in New York)

2006 (posthumously) - medal of the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation “Hurry to do good.”

2006 (posthumously) - Tiziano Terzani International Literary Prize for 2007

2007 (posthumously) - UNESCO Prize for Contribution to Press Freedom for courage in reporting events in Chechnya.

2007 (posthumously) - Award for the Development of Democracy, awarded to journalists who risk their lives in order to provide their readers or listeners with truthful information.

2007: (posthumously) Hans and Sophie Scholl Anti-Fascist Prize

2007: (posthumous) Honorary membership in the Erich Maria Remarque Society

1. Shamil Buraev (former head of the administration of the Achkhoy-Martan district of Chechnya)
2. Pavel Ryaguzov (FSB lieutenant colonel, employee of the FSB department for the Central Administrative District of Moscow)
3. Sergei Khadzhikurbanov (police major, former detective of the Organized Crime Control Department)
4. Dmitry Lebedev (employee of the operational search department of the Moscow Main Internal Affairs Directorate)
5. Dmitry Grachev (employee of the operational search department of the Moscow Main Internal Affairs Directorate)
6. Oleg Alimov (employee of the operational search department of the Moscow Main Internal Affairs Directorate)
7. Alexey Berkin (OP employee, former employee Moscow City Internal Affairs Directorate)
8. Magomed Dimelkhanov (leader of the Alazan organized crime group operating in Moscow)
9. Tamerlan Makhmudov (member of the Alazan organized crime group)
10. Dzhabrail Makhmudov (member of the Alazan organized crime group)
11. Ibragim Makhmudov (member of the Alazan organized crime group)
12. Akhmed Isaev (market trader, truck driver, member of the Alazan organized crime group)

In 2006, preparations began for an unusual gift for the 54th birthday of Russian President Vladimir Putin (October 7). There was a journalist who had long annoyed Vladimir Putin: Anna Politkovskaya, author of a number of reports on the lawlessness of the Putin regime and the FSB, war crimes Russian army in Chechnya (“Reports from a Wild War”, “Poisoned by Putin”, “Corner of Hell”, etc.), author of the book “Putin’s Russia”, an irreconcilable and uncompromising opponent of the current President of the Russian Federation.

“The consolidation of Putin’s power is a return to the Soviet system. It must be said that this became possible not only because of our own negligence, apathy and fatigue after too revolutionary changes. This comes amid a chorus of cheers from the West, most notably from Silvio Berlusconi, who seems to have simply fallen in love with Putin. He is Putin's main supporter in Europe, but Putin also has the support of Blair, Schröder and Chirac, and faces no opposition from Bush Jr. across the Atlantic. Therefore, no one stopped our KGB officer from returning to the Kremlin - neither the West, nor any serious opposition in Russia itself. During the so-called election campaign, from December 7, 2003 to March 14, 2004, Putin openly mocked voters... some chuckled: he behaves exactly like Stalin. Putin, too, was simultaneously “a friend of all children,” “the country’s first pig farmer,” “the best miner,” “a friend of athletes,” and “a leading filmmaker.” . . This summer will mark five years since the second Chechen war was launched. And there is no end in sight. At that time, the babies who would be declared martyrs had not yet been born, but since 1999, all murders of children as a result of bombings and “cleansing operations” remain unsolved; law enforcement agencies simply don’t investigate them.” (“Putin’s Russia”, 2004).

“Putin - the product of the darkest intelligence service in the country - has not been able to overcome his past and abandon the habits of a KGB lieutenant colonel. He continues to cull freedom-loving compatriots; he is still, as at the beginning of his career, busy strangling freedom.”
“We no longer want to be slaves, even if this is what suits the West most. We demand the right to be free."
“Putin resembles Gogol’s Akaki Akakievich. He is a little gray man who does not want to remain gray. Putin had a historic chance to get rid of his grayness and achieve greatness, but he remains a gray personality.”
(From various interviews with Anna Politkovskaya)

In 2000, Interior Ministry officials threatened to kill her for investigating police kidnappings for extortion. Politkovskaya had to go into hiding.

In February 2001, FSB officers accused Politkovskaya of spying for the Chechen field commander Shamil Basayev and kept her in a pit called “zidan” for 3 days.

In September 2004, during the Beslan hostage crisis, she was poisoned on a plane while trying to fly to the scene. She survived. There was no investigation.

Who had the idea to present “Tsar Vladimir” with the head of the main troublemaker for his birthday? Some believe that this was the wish of V.V. himself. Putin, others - that it was a “local initiative.” Knowing the painful ambition and vindictiveness of Vladimir Putin, his supporters believed that nothing would please the “popularly elected father of the fatherland” more than the news of Politkovskaya’s death.

“The corpse of an enemy smells good” (Suetonius, Lives of the Twelve Caesars, Vitellius, 10).
Classic…

Be that as it may, we will never know the truth. If Putin’s regime continues, then the murder will be “pinned” on a group of people from the list (Nos. 1 - 12), no one will summon for questioning the leader of Putin’s friends - the FSB, Nikolai Patrushev, the Chechen “President” Ramzan Kadyrov and the Deputy Prime Minister, former minister defense of Sergei Ivanov.

If Putin's regime collapses, all his friends will be to blame for absolutely everything, including global warming, Islamic terrorism and low grain yields.

We will not learn anything significant beyond what is described below.

One authoritative Chechen figure called the leader of the Alazan organized crime group Dimelkhanov and instructed him to kill Anna Politkovskaya. According to investigators, this figure was Shamil Buraev, the former head of the administration of the Achkhoy-Martan district of Chechnya from 1995 to 2003,
by decree of the President of the Russian Federation V.V. Putin, dated June 5, 2000, he was awarded the Order of Courage “for heroism” shown during the first Chechen war. Buraev was removed from his post by Ramzan Kadyrov in 2003 and from that time he lived in Moscow, where he had a business since 1990, and studied in the correspondence department " Russian Academy civil service under the President of the Russian Federation" (RAGS) with a degree in "Regional Management". Buraev organized the interaction of Dimelkhanov’s group with the former detective of the department for combating organized crime Khadzhikurbanov and FSB Lieutenant Colonel Ryaguzov. The group of perpetrators of the contract killing was provided with police support - three employees of the operational search department, as well as an employee of the security company Berkin, who also previously worked in the Moscow Central Internal Affairs Directorate. The group of performers itself consisted of three Makhmudov brothers and driver Isaev.

On October 7, 2006, in the evening, a committee-police support group tracked Anna Politkovskaya to the entrance of a house on Lesnaya Street (where she rented an apartment), after which one of the performers entered the elevator with her and shot her four times.

Reassured by the support and cover of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the FSB, the perpetrators acted so carelessly that they left behind a lot of evidence, incl. in the form of recordings on CCTV cameras. This indicates that the group of employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the FSB and the organized crime group was already established and was not working together for the first time. This “combined team” of police, state security and gangsters was engaged in international activities (also contract killings).

As the Minister of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Latvia, Ivars Godmanis, reported in August 2007, the criminals who committed the murder of Novaya Gazeta columnist Anna Politkovskaya may be related to two unsolved contract killings in Latvia. Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation Yuri Chaika admitted that this group had previously carried out contract killings in Latvia and Ukraine. It is significant that FSB Lieutenant Colonel Ryaguzov was detained in Sheremetyevo-2 while returning home from Bulgaria.

It is known that political assassinations were one of the main tasks of the KGB of the USSR and remain the main political tool in the arsenal of the FSB of Russia. Quite recently, when the 12 listed persons were already behind bars, two more disloyal journalists were murdered in Russia - Ilyas Shurpaev and Gadzhi Abashilov.

The question remains: why were Politkovskaya’s killers “surrendered”? After all, the FSB usually does not hand over its killers, even when they are caught practically red-handed. For example, an FSB officer who shot Vladislav Listyev, a television journalist, on March 1, 1995, general director ORT (just like Politkovskaya, in the entrance of her own house) was released a few hours after being detained and identified.

Apparently Vladimir Putin didn’t like the gift - so he decided to send the stupid guardsmen to their bunks. And he probably made a remark to his friends. Quietly, in a friendly way.

And, as required by the laws of the socialist realist genre, a look into the future.

On February 13, 2004, in the city of Doha (Qatar), two employees of the Russian FSB, with the assistance of the first secretary of the Russian Embassy in Qatar, planted a bomb in the car of the opposition leader of Chechnya (Ichkeria) Zelimkhan Yandarbiev. In the explosion, Yandarbiev was killed and his son was injured. 5 days after the explosion, on the night of February 19, 2004, the organizers of the murder were arrested by Qatari counterintelligence while trying to flee the country. The embassy secretary was released due to his diplomatic immunity, and the other two were sentenced to life imprisonment by a Qatari court.

The fate of the two unlucky KGB murderers was dealt with by the law firm “Egorov, Puginsky, Afanasyev and Partners.” In fact, the lawyers acted as representatives of the Russian intelligence services in bargaining with the Qatari intelligence services. Commerce and corporate camaraderie trumped justice. The killers were handed over to their owners and released to Russia. The owner of a law firm that bargained on behalf of the Russian Federation for killers in uniform is Vladimir Putin’s classmate, Nikolai Egorov. Now he is part of the team of the newly elected (that’s what it’s called now) Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. The “newly chosen one” needs people who will exonerate hired killers from justice foreign countries. Only the masks of the Russian authorities change - Yeltsin, Putin, Medvedev... But the style remains. “No man, no problem” (Joseph Stalin).

Anna Politkovskaya was not killed by some Chechen brother Makhmudov on a tip from some state security lieutenant colonel Ryaguzov. She was killed by the Russian state machine, which only knows how to commit crimes. She is so structured, she is so configured, she is so designed that she cannot do anything other than crimes. And she will kill and rob until she is destroyed.

This is, I apologize for the expression, the moral of this whole story.

“She didn’t have to go anywhere at all. She needed to look after her children!” This is what her neighbor says about Anna Politkovskaya documentary film"Seven years on the front line."

The neighbor is outraged. Every October 7th, after Politkovskaya’s death, the entrance to a house on Lesnaya Street in Moscow turns into a memorial stone, with candles burning and red carnations lying around.

Anna Politkovskaya was killed seven years ago, on Vladimir Putin’s birthday. That same week, Ramzan Kadyrov celebrated his thirtieth birthday. Was it just the coincidence of dates that made her death a political assassination? According to Novaya Gazeta journalists, Politkovskaya’s articles became the cause of 47 criminal cases. She wrote about the events that determined the current state of the country: the bombings of houses in Moscow, the murder of Nord-Ost hostages by gas, the death of Beslan schoolchildren. She had plenty of enemies among the powerful: Politkovskaya laughed at General Shamanov, talked about the drunkenness and savagery of the Russian federals in Chechnya, mocked Ramzan Kadyrov, before whom recent field commanders were already in awe.

A source of nightly fears for some, hope for justice for others, what was Anna like, whom few knew? Her life was not limited to war reporting. Politkovskaya wrote lyrical essays about passion and the royal wedding. Shortly before her death, she admitted to her friend that she was in love and was living in anticipation of great joy. On the seventh anniversary of Anna Politkovskaya's death, Medialeaks collected her statements - not about politics.

About love

Passion is oblivion in reality.

Here, of course, love takes root, and a lot of it... We have learned to love quietly - in the sense, to understand to the core. Also feel sorry for the unfortunate and alcoholics who become drunkards from the pollution of their own souls. Even with my dear one, I became adept at building paradise in a hut. Still waiting for years. Also wash your feet and drink water. But passion is like a short-lived burning fire!

Nails should be made from iron ladies.

“Passion” in our opinion is a journey from point “A” to point “B”. In “A” we kissed, in “B” we sawed off the sofa.

Our men became smaller from decade to decade because they became poor.

Following the teenagers and racketeers, the rest of society, even in terminology, steadfastly switched to the word “fuck”. If someone has some kind of relationship, it means they are “fucking” (both they say so about themselves and those around them). Our couples no longer feel sorry, don’t call, don’t cry - they fuck. Bankers fuck, their children fuck, former engineers fuck, homeless people fuck, musicians and poets too.

About life around

Society, no matter how it manifests itself, is deeply indifferent to those who cannot survive without its help. And no matter how much we conjure ourselves to the contrary - for example, that we are the most sincere nation in the world, that our intelligentsia is the best in the world and always walks the earth with pain in its heart for the tears of a child - this is, in general, a lie .

In Russia there is neither the value of money nor the value of a living soul.

Every big scandal tends to begin with petty communal passions.

We are doomed to a new “Nord-Ost”, to the fact that no one will feel safe anywhere - both going out and sitting in their own apartment.

Every collapse begins with a pebble, an ordinary one, unremarkable, flying down. The collapse of societies is the same: with the unpunished destruction of a “grain of sand”. A single, simple man.

Our hatred of our own people is boundless. But the love for his money is endless.

Life ends in one second, and tomorrow is too lascivious an animal to hope for. It may never visit you.

About dogs

In the summer of 2004, the Politkovskys’ dog, Doberman Martyn, who had lived with the family for fifteen years, died. “Martyn was a wonderful dog who honestly guarded us for many years of the perestroika chaos, the total banditry of the years of primary accumulation of capital, the current collapse of freedoms, when it became unsafe again,” Politkovskaya wrote. The dog had a stroke and heart attack, and, due to the busyness of other family members, Politkovskaya examined the dog for a long time.

Life without a dog is like life without a permanent capsule of love sewn under the skin.

The extent to which we become brutalized by the smell of big money is very well understood when you have a sick dog on a leash.

Source of love perpetuum mobile. Everyone will leave you, everyone will pout on you - the dog will not stop loving you.

About Paris

At the end of May 2000, Politkovskaya was in Paris. The reason is the publication of a book, a collection of reports from Chechnya and Ingushetia, published in Novaya Gazeta from September 1999 to April 2000. She devoted several materials to her impressions of the city.

So much has been said about Paris that it’s embarrassing to join in.

In Paris, the city of freedom and slight recklessness, there is only one way - forward and at random.

What is Paris? If you try to explain it in one word. This is will. Freedom. Intoxication with them. Like enjoying the steppe.

Paris is a European-style gypsy, with the gloss and chic of civilization.

Women in Paris are so proud, they raise their heads above the rooftops.

Well, what else does your ex need? to the Soviet man to feel happy? Nothing except the contact of the “fifth point” with a tattered chair, which was wiped off by the poor trousers of the early Hemingway.

For some reason you forgive everything to the Parisian garçons and understand: he turned out to be so elite, and you are still just on the outskirts.

The essence of Paris is that women dress however they want. (Men too.) And they think as they wish.

I slept very well in Paris. For the first time in all the months of the war.

About the profession of journalist

As for work, people don’t like us for our articles, they mostly hate us for them.

Each subsequent attempt on the life of a journalist...steadily reduces the number of people engaged in journalism as a means of fighting for justice. In proportion to this decrease, the number of those who prefer lightweight journalism, which does not interfere where it is not asked, increases.

As long as you publish, you are remembered and you are needed. Stopped - that's it, be content with yourself.

I always knew that since I have children, I must be at home. But I also knew something else - the children would grow up and I must have something of my own.

Is journalism worth living? If this is the price to pay for telling the truth, maybe it’s better to stop? And find something to do with less chance of “very big trouble”? How will the society for which we work react to this? And then - everyone makes their choice.

I love writing notes.

About me

I really need to curb my aggressiveness. I am not evil, but still scandalous.

I'm afraid of everything that shoots.

I have nothing to be offended about and nothing to cry about.

I dreamed of writing an optimistic book, at the end of which something similar to the Maidan would happen.

I have seen so many men's tears that I no longer cry myself.

I want to find out where it will take us.

Politkovskaya Anna Stepanovna

Anna Politkovskaya is a Russian journalist and human rights activist. She worked a lot in the North Caucasus. Killed in 2006. Until 2016, the case of the murder of Anna Politkovskaya remained unsolved, although its alleged perpetrators were convicted in 2014.

Biography

Born on August 30, 1958 in New York into a family of Soviet diplomats of Ukrainian origin. (According to other sources, Anna Politkovskaya was born in Ukraine in the Chernigov region). Anna Politkovskaya's maiden name is Mazepa. In 1980 she graduated from the Faculty of Journalism of Lomonosov Moscow State University.

In 1982-1993 she worked in the newspapers Izvestia and Air Transport, in the creative association ESKART, the publishing house Paritet, and as a columnist for the newspaper Megapolis Express.

In 1994-1999, Anna Politkovskaya was the editor of the emergency department of the Obshchaya Gazeta. Since June 1999 - columnist for Novaya Gazeta.

Since July 1999, Politkovskaya, as a journalist, has traveled many times to war zones and refugee camps in Dagestan, and then to Ingushetia and Chechnya.

In addition to her main work, Anna Politkovskaya was also involved in human rights activities: she helped the mothers of dead soldiers in court, conducted an investigation into corruption in the Ministry of Defense and the command of the United Groups of Federal Forces in Chechnya. In December 1999, Anna Politkovskaya organized the evacuation of 89 residents of a Grozny nursing home, who, through her efforts, were resettled in Russia. However, in the summer of 2000, the old people (22 people) were returned to Grozny, “in order to demonstrate to the whole world that life in Grozny is getting better.” People found themselves without water, medicine, food and clothing. In August 2000, on the initiative of Anna Politkovskaya, Novaya Gazeta held a charity event “Grozny. Nursing Home” - five and a half tons of cargo and about five thousand dollars were collected.

In October 2002, A. Politkovskaya participated in negotiations with Chechen militants from the Riyadh us-Salihyin brigade, who seized the Dubrovka Theater Center in Moscow. The terrorists named her among the people with whom they could negotiate. On October 25, 2002, Politkovskaya arrived at the operational headquarters for the release of the hostages and communicated with the militants by phone, and then, together with Dr. Leonid Roshal, visited the building of the Theater Center, giving drinking water to the hostages.

In February 2001, FSB officers accused Politkovskaya of spying for the Chechen field commander Shamil Basayev and kept her in a hole for three days without food or water.

In September 2001, Anna Politkovskaya published an article in Novaya Gazeta, “Disappearing People,” telling about the fate of the Chechen Zelimkhan Murdalov, who was arrested in Chechnya by the Khanty-Mansiysk riot police in early 2001, and then disappeared without a trace. After that, she began to receive threatening letters by e-mail from a certain “cadet” - an employee of the Khanty-Mansiysk riot police Sergei Lapin, who directly detained and interrogated Murdalov. Lapin was charged under the article “causing grievous bodily harm, abuse of power and forgery,” but they were later dropped.

On September 1, 2004, on the first day of the Beslan hostage crisis, Politkovskaya, while on a plane flying to North Ossetia, suffered serious poisoning after drinking a cup of tea. This incident was regarded by the journalist’s colleagues, including in Beslan, as a planned attempt on her life. She flew to Beslan, having the opportunity to organize negotiations between Aslan Maskhadov and Akhmed Zakayev with the terrorists who seized the building of school No. 1. From the plane, Politkovskaya was hospitalized in an unconscious state at the Rostov Regional Hospital.

Anna Politkovskaya appeared on the list of “enemies of the Russian people and Russian statehood,” the existence of which was announced by LDPR deputy Nikolai Kuryanovich in March 2006.

On October 7, 2006, Anna Politkovskaya died at the hands of a hired killer in Moscow at the entrance of the house where she lived.

A. Politkovskaya's last publication in Novaya Gazeta - "Punitive Conspiracy" - was devoted to the composition and activities of Chechen detachments fighting on the side of the federal forces. Her article about torture in Chechnya was supposed to appear in the next issue of Novaya Gazeta. The material discussed the involvement of Chechen Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov in kidnappings.

Anna Politkovskaya gave her last interview to her own correspondent of the "Caucasian Knot" an hour and a half before her tragic death. It was called “Kadyrov will not be president of Chechnya.”

During the first trial, lasting from October 15, 2008 to February 19, 2009 the jury found acquittal , but the verdict was overturned and the case was sent for new consideration.

The second trial in the case began in July 2013, after the sentencing in October 2012 (11 years in prison) to former policeman Dmitry Pavlyuchenkov, who confessed his involvement in the murder . After Pavlyuchenkov concluded a deal with the investigation, he ceased to be considered the organizer of the crime.

On May 20, 2014, a jury found all five defendants guilty in the murder of Anna Politkovskaya. They did not admit their guilt. Details of the progress of the investigation and trials can be found in the information “The Murder of Anna Politkovskaya”.

On June 9, 2014, the Moscow City Court rendered a verdict in the case of the murder of Anna Politkovskaya. Defendants Lom-Ali Gaitukaev and Rustam Makhmudov were sentenced to life imprisonment. Makhmudov's brothers Ibragim and Dzhabrail received 12 and 14 years in prison, respectively, and Khadzhikurbanov was sentenced to 20 years in a maximum security colony.

During 2014 - 2015, there was practically no investigation into the murder, and in Supreme Court In Russia, hearings were held on the defendants' appeals.

In March 2015, sources in law enforcement agencies reported unofficial investigation data, according to which a number of circumstances surrounding the murder of Boris Nemtsov coincide with the picture of the murder of journalist A. Politkovskaya.

In October 2014, participants in a memorial ceremony held near the Novaya Gazeta editorial office in Moscow and organized by the international human rights organization Amnesty International demanded to establish those who ordered the murder of journalist A. Politkovskaya. In 2015, colleagues and relatives of the deceased journalist also expressed dissatisfaction with the progress of the investigation. Novaya Gazeta journalists expressed confidence that attempts to identify the mastermind behind the murder of Anna Politkovskaya are not hopeless.

Human rights activists Oleg Orlov and Valery Borshchev stated that in For nine years now, Russian authorities have demonstrated their reluctance to find those who ordered the murder of Anna Politkovskaya. “Judging by her latest publications, about the crimes of security forces, It is possible that the orderer of Politkovskaya’s murder is someone from Chechnya. But during the investigation, these threads leading to Chechnya were cut off and torn. And the customer was not determined and identified,” added Oleg Orlov.

Until 2016, the case of the murder of A. Politkovskaya remained unsolved. Since the sentencing of the probable perpetrators of the murder, the investigation to identify the mastermind has made no progress.

Books

Anna Politkovskaya is the author of several documentary and journalistic books about the situation in Chechnya and Russia. Many of them have been translated into foreign languages. Among them: “Journey to Hell. Chechen Diary”, “Chechnya: Russia’s Shame”, “Second Chechen”, “Putin’s Russia”, “Russia without Putin”.

Awards

Anna Politkovskaya is a laureate of a number of Russian and international journalistic awards. For a series of reports from Chechnya in January 2000, she was awarded the Golden Pen of Russia prize. Other Anna Politkovskaya awards:

• Diploma "Golden Gong 2000" for a series of materials about Chechnya;
• Award of the Union of Journalists of the Russian Federation "A good deed - a kind heart";
• Prize of the Union of Journalists of the Russian Federation for materials on the fight against corruption;
• Pulitzer Prize (Washington);
• Walter Gamnus Prize (Berlin) - with the wording “For civil courage”;
• Annual OSCE Prize "For Journalism and Democracy" (February 2003) - with the wording "For publications on the state of human rights in Chechnya." The OSCE PA press release states that Anna Politkovskaya has gained international fame for her reporting from Chechnya. Her work has also been published on English in the form of a book entitled "Russian Reporter in the Dirty War in Chechnya";
• A. Sakharov Prize "Journalism as an Act". The prize was established by Peter Vince, and is awarded to Russian journalists for materials that - from the point of view of human rights and democratic values ​​- pose and analyze problems important to society;
• Global Award for Human Rights Journalism (Amnesty International, London);
• Artem Borovik Prize. Established by the CBS television company for Russian journalists, it is awarded annually in New York. The first prize was awarded to Anna Politkovskaya;
• Prize of the international literary publication "Lettres Internationales" (France) - with the wording "For a book of reports published in French under the title "Chechnya - the shame of Russia";
• Freedom of the Press Award (Reporters Without Borders, awarded in Paris);
• Olof Palme Prize (Stockholm) - with the wording “For achievements in the struggle for peace”;
• Freedom and Future of the Press Award (Leipzig);
• Award "Hero of Europe" (Time Magazine) - with the wording "For Courage";
• Award "For Courage in Journalism" (International Women's Press Foundation) - with the wording "For reporting on the war in Chechnya."

Family

From 1978 to 2000, Anna Politkovskaya was married to television journalist Alexander Politkovsky. She left two children: son Ilya and daughter Vera.

The last days of Anna Politkovskaya's life investigative team Investigative Committee at General Prosecutor's Office led by Petros Gharibyan tried to restore literally by the hour. For this purpose, printouts of calls from mobile phones, cell tower data, surveillance camera recordings. All this was presented to jurors in the Moscow District Military Court, where hearings in the case are taking place. This presentation was at the disposal of The New Times, and now we can tell how, according to investigators, the Novaya Gazeta journalist was killed.

4 days before death

For the first time, the camera at entrance No. 4 of building No. 8/12 on Lesnaya recorded the alleged killer on October 3, 2006 at 17.02. In any case, it is from this date that investigators begin their version. That is, 4 days before the crime. “A man in dark clothes, a cap and an object resembling a raincoat thrown over his left arm” (as in the investigative documents), moves along the house from entrance No. 4 on the street. Alexander Nevsky to entrance No. 2 on Lesnaya: Anna Politkovskaya lived here (photo 1). Politkovskaya's house is a corner building. Entrances No. 3 and 4 go to Alexander Nevsky Street, entrance No. 2 goes to Lesnaya. A man approaches the entrance door, goes inside, and a few minutes later, at 17.09, Anna Politkovskaya returns home. A few more minutes pass, and the journalist leaves the house with the dog, a man in a cap comes out after her (photo 2), but does not follow Politkovskaya, but leaves in the same direction from which he came. A day later, on October 5, history repeats itself. Recorded by the camera, the same man again walks the same route, after him, as two days ago, Politkovskaya enters the house (photo 3), and a few minutes later he leaves and again leaves along Alexander Nevsky Street. The day before the murder, October 6, cameras in the area of ​​Politkovskaya’s house also filmed a VAZ-2104 car. Surveillance of the house continued.

Last day

October 7, 2006, 2 hours before the murder: Anna Politkovskaya, as evidenced by surveillance cameras, goes to the Ramstore store on Frunzenskaya Embankment. Two young men follow her. One of them, wearing a baseball cap, obviously aware of the camera, covers his face with his hand (photo 4). At 14 hours 42 minutes and 17 seconds, the camera at the entrance to the Ramstore once again shows Politkovskaya, followed by the same young man (photo 5).

Half an hour before this, another camera, on the corner of 3rd Tverskaya-Yamskaya Street and Lesnaya, recorded a VAZ-2104 car. The car drives along Lesnaya Street towards Politkovskaya’s house, passes it and goes to house No. 10/16. The car winds around the area for some time, and already at 15.55 it is recorded by a camera near house number 10 on Alexander Nevsky Street. The same man in a cap and dark clothes comes out of it and walks along the route that is already well known to him to house No. 8/12 on Lesnaya Street. The car goes towards the Garden Ring.

Politkovskaya returns from Ramstore. The alleged killer enters Politkovskaya’s entrance at 3:57 p.m. 9 minutes later, at 16.06, Anna comes to the door (photo 6). She has a bag of products from Ramstore in her hands (photo 7), she takes the keys out of her purse (photo 8). At 16 hours 06 minutes 35 seconds she brings the key of the combination lock to the intercom (photo 9). At 16:06:39, the camera records that she entered the entrance, but in the frame there is only a shadow, part of the shoulder, and the left hand (photo 10). After 24 seconds, the entrance door opens and the killer comes out (photo 11). During these 24 seconds, Anna Politkovskaya managed to climb the steps, press the call button for the elevator that was waiting for her on the 1st floor, enter the cabin... The first shot was in the head. Death was instant. Then there were three more...

In the dock at the Moscow District Military Court there is neither the alleged killer nor the orderer of the massacre.

In a cage in front of the jurors are Sergei Khadzhikurbanov, Ibragim and Dzhabrail Makhmudov: the prosecution suspects them of assisting in the crime. They, according to the investigation, conducted surveillance of Anna Politkovskaya from the same VAZ-2104 car. The investigation believes that the killer was their brother, Rustam Makhmudov. But it has still not been possible to find him. According to investigators, he is hiding in Euro
ne. As for the customer, apparently, the investigation does not even have workable leads on this matter.

The state prosecution seeks to complete the trial of the accomplices as soon as possible. Ideally - before the New Year. The lawyer of the accused, Murad Musaev, is convinced of this. “The state prosecution wants to quickly close this case so as not to look for the true culprits,” he said in an interview with The New Times. “My clients are only accused of complicity in a crime, but after the verdict, the prosecutor’s officers will simply check the box that the case has been solved, and will not look for either the killer or the person who ordered the murder of Anna Politkovskaya.”

The editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta, Dmitry Muratov, has his own thoughts on this matter: “The fact is that a number of those involved in this case are secret or overt FSB agents. Many people, of course, don’t want to make this widely public. In order to remove the FSB from the Politkovskaya murder case, everything related to another accused, FSB Colonel Pavel Ryaguzov, was transferred to a separate case.” It was Colonel Ryaguzov, according to investigators, who provided the criminals with information about Anna Politkovskaya’s residence, which was carefully hidden by both the newspaper and Anna herself: she received many and frequent threats. For the same reasons, according to Muratov, they tried to make the process closed from the very beginning.

At the time of going to press this issue, the defense of the accused was being heard in court. What lies ahead is the interrogation of additional witnesses, arguments between the parties, speeches by the prosecutor and lawyers before the jury and, in fact, the rendering of a verdict. Surprises are also possible. According to The New Times' interlocutors, who are closely familiar with the case materials, at this stage the jury, for example, may be provided with irrefutable evidence of Rustam Makhmudov's involvement in the murder. Will give his testimony to the court and editor-in-chief"Novaya Gazeta" Dmitry Muratov. And here, too, surprises are possible.

After life

Last photo. An open elevator door: a wooden board placed by someone prevents it from closing. On the right is a bag with purchases from Ramstore; on the left, close to the body, is a pistol with a silencer. Anna Politkovskaya sits on the floor, leaning between the back and left walls of the elevator. Head down. It seems like a very tired man is just sitting there. Only here on gray hair- blood, glasses fell on the chest, and there was also a drop of blood on them... And those who remained on the other side of this elevator, in our lives, have one question: for what? And another: who?