List of journalists killed in Russia

The dangers to journalists in Russia have been well known since the early 1990s but concern at the number of unsolved killings soared after Anna Politkovskaya's murder in Moscow on 7 October 2006. While international monitors spoke of several dozen deaths, some sources within Russia talked of over two hundred fatalities. The evidence has since been examined and documented in two reports, published in Russian and English, by international organizations. These revealed a basic confusion in terminology that explained the seemingly enormous numerical discrepancy: statistics of premature death among journalists (from work accidents, crossfire incidents, and purely criminal or domestic cases of manslaughter) were repeatedly equated with the much smaller number of targeted (contract) killings or work-related murders. The Remembrance Day of Journalists Killed in the Line of Duty in Russia is observed on 15 December every year.

Methodology

Among international monitors the figures quoted for deaths of journalists in Russia have varied, sometimes considerably. There are several explanations. One, certain organisations are concerned with all aspects of safety in news gathering, and so the International Federation of Journalists and the International News Safety Institute also record accidents that have occurred at work. Two, some monitoring bodies include only fatalities in crossfire and dangerous assignments, and those murders where they feel sure of the motive behind the lethal attack and can with confidence lobby the appropriate government — the CPJ adopts this approach. Three, the term "journalist" is used by monitors as a general term to cover many different occupations within the media. Some include support staff, others do not.

In any list of deaths, compiled by monitors inside or outside the country, Russia ranks high. When the killing began the brief first Chechen war took numerous lives of journalists from within Chechnya and from further afield. There were also mounting peacetime deaths of journalists elsewhere in the Russian Federation.

Those deliberately targeted for their work have tended to be reporters, correspondents and editors. In Russia many directors of new regional TV and radio stations have been murdered but some of these deaths are thought to relate to conflicting business interests. Photographers and cameramen are vulnerable in crossfire situations, such as the October 1993 days in Moscow and the armed conflict in the North Caucasus.

The 2009 reports on Deaths of Journalists in Russia

In June a wide-ranging investigation by the International Federation of Journalists into the deaths of journalists in Russia was published in June 2009. At the same time the IFJ launched an online database which documented over three hundred deaths and disappearances since 1993. Both the report Partial Justice (Russian version: Частичное правосудие) and the database depend on the information gathered in Russia over the last 16 years by the country's own media monitors, the Glasnost Defense Foundation and the Center for Journalism in Extreme Situations.

In September in its own report, Justice the Committee to Protect Journalists repeated its conclusion that Russia was one of the deadliest countries in the world for journalists and added that it remains among the worst at solving their murders. They died or were killed, the CPJ is convinced, because of the work they were doing and in only one case, it notes, has there been a partially successful prosecution.

Following Russia's media monitors, the IFJ database of deaths and disappearances in Russia embraces the entire range of media occupations and every degree of uncertainty as to the motive for many of the attacks. At the same time it allows for selection and analysis. One, it classifies the way in which a journalist died (homicide, accident, crossfire, terrorist act or not confirmed) and, two, it assesses each death as certainly, possibly, or most probably not, linked to the journalist's work.

Since the early 1990s Russia's media monitors have recorded every violent or suspicious death that came to their attention. Determining which were linked to the work of the journalist concerned has not always been easy since law enforcement agencies in Russia were then struggling to cope with a wave of murders, and the number of unsolved killings of journalists steadily mounted. In the last few years the Center for Journalism in Extreme Situations has gathered all available information about these deaths on its Memorium site. This made it possible to check how far these deaths have been investigated and how many have led to court cases. The IFJ data base summarises the information accumulated on the Memorium site and makes it available in English for the first time. During a study of international fraud-detection homicide which compared fraud detection homicide cases from the United States of America against fraud detection homicide cases from the former Soviet Republic the murder of Paula Klebenikov illustrated a case of a contract killing of a journalist known to expose fraud in governments. At the time of his murder, he was thought to be investigating complex money laundering fraud scheme involving Chechen reconstruction projects. The investigation appears to reveal that Klebnikov had discovered that the fraud reached deep into the centers of power in the Kremlin, elements involving organized crime, and also the former KGB, which is now known as the FSB.

Partial Justice and Anatomy of Injustice

The IFJ report, Partial Justice, maps the changing contours of impunity in Russia. It shows and explains the process whereby particular deaths are selected by the IFJ, CPJ and other monitors. It stresses the need for an end to total impunity in those remaining regions (the North Caucasus, St Petersburg) where no one has ever been prosecuted for killing a journalist, and for an advance beyond partial justice in those cases where it is known, or strongly suspected, that the murder of a journalist was planned and premeditated. It is not enough to put the killer on trial; he must be accompanied, or followed, by his accomplices, and the intermediaries and individuals who ordered and paid for the killing.

The IFJ report opens and closes with the Politkovskaya murder and the subsequent trial, which ran from November 2008 to February 2009. After 16 years of unsolved killings, the international outcry over her death made this a test case that might finally breach the barrier of partial justice. The evidence presented by the prosecution, unfortunately, did not convince the jury or satisfy other key participants. Anatomy of Injustice, the report by the CPJ, displays the conclusions the Committee has reached about certain deaths since 2000: the authorities do not acknowledge some of these deaths as homicide, while several others reached the courts but have led at most to the conviction of the perpetrator, not those who ordered the killing.

Following different routes the two reports reach a similar set of recommendations. They call on the Russian authorities to give investigators and courts the backing they need to identify and pursue all those responsible for the deaths of journalists and, in the meanwhile, to keep press and public better informed about their progress in tackling such disturbing crimes.

International comparisons

The CPJ lists Russia as "the third deadliest country in the world for journalists" since 1991, exceeded in the number of deaths only by Algeria (1993–1996) and post-invasion Iraq. It is more revealing, perhaps, to set Russia alongside its G20 partners — not just the USA and France, but also Saudi Arabia and China (see Table 1, in IFJ report). Russia's problem, shared by certain other members of G20 (India, Brazil and Mexico), is not simply one of the number of deaths but that the killing with impunity has persisted over time. The varied conditions in these economically important countries highlight a further crucial dimension. The killing of journalists may be the most dramatic and frequently quoted "barometer of press freedom" but it is by no means the only measure. What it signifies for a particular country can only be properly gauged in the wider context of press freedom and other liberties, present (or absent) in that society. Very few journalists have been killed in China and none, it would seem, in North Korea. Other shortcomings ensure those countries occupy a lower position than Russia on any index of press freedom.

Mikhail Beketov initially survived a 2008 attack and died 5 years later. Immediate death is just the extreme end of the spectrum of threats and intimidation.

Deaths and trials, statistics

The violent deaths of journalists started in the Yeltsin era (1991–1999) and continued under Putin, president of Russia from 31 December 1999 to 7 May 2008. When Medvedev became president, he spoke of the need to end "legal nihilism". In the past five years, there have been a rising number of trials but by November 2009 there had yet to be a major breakthrough, under Medvedev, either in the prosecution of pre-2008 deaths or the investigation of killings since his May 2008 inauguration. The Politkovskaya murder trial and the first arrests in the Baburova-Markelov slaying (November 2009) showed some inconclusive signs of movement.

See also: List of Presidents of the Russian Federation and Presidents

President	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	P	P	P	P	P	P	P	P	P-M	M
year	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	TOTAL
murder, crossfire terrorist act	10	12	22	18	10	10	11	17	12	23	11	12	5	13	3	5	6	200
murder only	3	8	16	12	10	10	8	15	11	20	11	10	4	13	3	5	6	165
trials	-	-	-	1	1	4	4	3	1	3	3	6	2	7	5	4	2	50

The yearly figures in the table above are derived from the "journalists in Russia" database, where details can be found on each individual death. Certain important categories are not included. Those who have gone "missing" (14 persons); those who died in an incident ("not confirmed", 28 persons), the nature of which has not been satisfactorily established; and journalists killed in work-related accidents (37 persons), may be found online in the IFJ database.

The third set of figures indicates the yearly number of verdicts reached in trials for the killing of journalists. With only three exceptions these have all been for homicide. Some cases have taken six to seven years to reach court, e.g. the killings of Dmitry Kholodov and Igor Domnikov, but most deaths that have resulted in prosecution take, on average, 12–24 months between the killing and the verdict.

Rates of conviction are a different matter. When the death was not related to the journalist's work the conviction rate exceeds 90%. When the journalist's death was certainly or seems likely to have been related to his or her work, the rate of acquittals rises sharply to around half of the total. Most trials are still held before a judge, aided by two lay assessors. Trial by judge and jury, still very rare in Russia, generally offers a more rigorous testing of evidence, robust defence of the suspects and a higher chance of the defendant being found not guilty (average acquittal rate of 20%). The Politkovskaya murder trial, which was held before a jury, ended in February 2009 with the acquittal of all those accused.

If approximately three quarters of the murders of journalists over the past 16 years were not related to their investigations and publications, the CJES considers that up to 70% of assaults, which annually run into the dozens, are work-related. Sometimes these are very serious. In November 2008 Mikhail Beketov, chief editor of the Khimkinskaya pravda, a paper in a Moscow suburb, was beaten so severely that although he survived, and his paper even resumed limited publication, by early 2010 he had still not regained the power of speech or independent movement. He died in 2013.

Concern abroad

Over the past decade the Russian authorities have been repeatedly urged, by Western governments and international media bodies, to do more to investigate the deaths of journalists there. The Paris-based Reporters Without Borders constantly criticized Russia for what it described as a failure to investigate these murders . The organization further claimed that many of the dead journalists had been critical of the Russian President, Vladimir Putin. Between March 2000 and July 2007, said Reporters Without Borders, 21 journalists were murdered in Russia because of their work.

Similar figures were produced by the CPJ. In a June 2007 statement the CPJ said, "A total of 47 journalists have been killed in Russia since 1992, with the vast majority of killings unsolved,". Seventeen of these journalists had been killed "in the line of duty" since 2000: 14 were murdered in retaliation for their journalism; "two died in crossfire; and one was killed while covering a dangerous assignment". The CPJ was continuing to investigate the deaths of eight other journalists to see if there was a link with their work. None of the 14 murders committed since 2000 had been solved, the CPJ said, and "13 bear the marks of contract hits".

Pressure on the Russian authorities increased in late 2006 after the murder of Anna Politkovskaya. In June 2007 the board of the World Association of Newspapers passed a resolution, calling on the authorities in Russia to "investigate journalist deaths more vigorously":

The brutal murder on 7 October 2006 of Novaya Gazeta journalist Anna Politkovskaya, known for her critical reporting on the conflict in Chechnya in which she sought to expose human rights abuses, was yet another reminder to Russian journalists that violence awaits those who investigate or criticise. It is estimated that 21 journalists have been killed since Russian President Vladimir Putin came to power in March 2000. In the great majority of cases, no one has been convicted and sentenced for the murders.

On 18 June 2007, the U.S. House of Representatives passed House Resolution 151, calling on Putin to "step-up efforts to investigate" the murders. In a report published in 2007, the International News Safety Institute said more journalists had died violent deaths in Russia in the previous 10 years than anywhere in the world apart from Iraq, though it offered statistics rather than details of the individual victims. The website of the British New Statesman magazine, in what was described as "solidarity with the dead, and in association with Amnesty International, Center for Journalism in Extreme Situations, the Committee to Protect Journalists and Index on Censorship" published a list of 40 Russian journalists killed since 1993, representing only some of those who died.

Legal outcomes

Immediately after Politkovskaya's murder doubts were expressed about the chances of justice being done, even though the victim in this case was a journalist who had acquired a worldwide reputation (cf. Dmitry Kholodov in 1994). American commentator Anne Applebaum thought that the murderers of Politkovskaya would never be found. There were also some dissenting and sceptical voices.

Recent killings, in various parts of Russia, of Ilyas Shurpayev, Yury Shebalkin, Konstantin Borovko and Leonid Etkind did indeed lead to trials and convictions. This was also true of some of the men involved in the brutal, earlier murder of 23-year-old Internet journalist Vladimir Sukhomlin. Ilya Zimin's alleged killer, meanwhile, was tried in his native Moldova and acquitted. Yet these examples do not disprove the charge of partial justice since only one of the deaths was related beyond doubt to the journalistic work of the victim.

Criticism from abroad was frequently perceived and rejected as selective. However, Russia's sought-for status as a member of G8 from 1997 onwards set a benchmark that showed the continuing deaths of journalists, and of other media restrictions within the country, in an unfavourable light. Also of importance was the country's admission to the Council of Europe and, as a result, the potential involvement, after 1998, of the European Court of Human Rights as an arbiter of last resort. Unsuccessful attempts were made for the 2004 acquittal of Dmitry Kholodov's alleged killers to be examined in Strasbourg. So far the Court has only once determined the failure of the Russian authorities to pursue those responsible for the violent deaths of journalists. In 2005 it ruled that the October 1999 killing in Chechnya of cameramen Ramzan Mezhidov and Shamil Gigayev and of more than thirty other civilians who died during the same incident had not been properly investigated.

A list of journalists killed in Russia

What follows is a list of journalists (reporters, editors, cameramen, photographers) who have been killed in Russia since 1992. It includes deaths from all violent, premature and unexplained causes; fuller information may be found in the English and Russian versions of the IFJ database. An indication whether the death is certainly [J], possibly [?J] or most probably not [nJ] linked to the journalist's investigative work and publications follows each name.

The Yeltsin years

1992–1994

1992

• Sergey Bogdanovsky, correspondent of TV "Ostankino", killed in Moscow.

1993

• 15 April – Dmitry Krikoryants, correspondent for Express Chronicle weekly (Moscow), murdered in his apartment in the Chechen capital, on the night of 14–15 April. Chechnya was then de facto independent. Homicide [J].

October events in Moscow

Sunday, 3 October, from 7.30 pm onwards. Outside and inside the Ostankino TV tower.

1. Rory Peck, ARD Germany, cameraman. Crossfire [J].

2. Ivan Scopan, TF-1 France, cameraman. Crossfire [J].

3. Igor Belozerov, 4th Channel "Ostankino", editor. Crossfire [J].

4. Sergey Krasilnikov, "Ostankino" TV, video engineer. Shot at point-blank range within building. Homicide [J].

5. Vladimir Drobyshev, People and nature monthly, editor. Heart Attack [J].

Monday, 4 October, after midday. near Supreme Soviet building.

6. Alexander Sidelnikov, freelance journalist and film-maker from Saint Petersburg. Crossfire [J].

7. Alexander Smirnov, Youth Courier newspaper (Yoshkar-Ola), correspondent. Crossfire [J].

• 29 November – Elena Tkacheva, 26-year-old proof-reader for Kuban Courier newspaper, died in Krasnodar as a result of a bomb planted in the newspaper office. Terrorist Act [J].
• 9 December – Marina Iskanderova, journalist at local TV station, murdered in her apartment in Nadym. Homicide [nJ].

1994

1. 1 February – Sergei Dubov, director of Novoye vremya publishing house, Moscow. Shot in contract killing. Homicide [nJ].
2. 26 April – Andrei Aidzerdzis, Duma deputy and publisher. Shot in contract killing, in Khimki near Moscow. Homicide [nJ].
3. 15 June – Yury Soltys, Interfax journalist and editor. Beaten to death in Moscow Region. Homicide [?J].
4. 15 October – Tatyana Zhuravlyova and husband, media workers, Komsomolskaya pravda (Samara bureau). Killed in Voronezh Region while driving their car in the country. Homicide. [nJ].
5. 17 July – Yelena Roshchina, chief editor of children's newspaper, Ivanovo. Murdered in her flat. Homicide. The gang who killed her were tried and convicted in 2000 [nJ].
6. 17 October – Dmitry Kholodov, military correspondent of the Moskovskii Komsomolets newspaper, was killed in Moscow when a booby-trapped briefcase he had collected from a railway station locker exploded in his newspaper's offices. Homicide. Kholodov's alleged killers were tried and twice acquitted, in 2002 and in 2004 [J].

There were also four deaths in Chechnya after the conflict there began in November.

1. 26 November – Hussein Guzuyev, director of Chechen TV & Radio Company. Grozny. Caught in crossfire between Dudayev supporters and pro-Moscow opposition [J].
2. 14 December – Gelani Charigov, journalist with Marsho private TV company. Grozny. Crossfire [J].
3. 22 December – Cynthia Elbaum, Freelance US photocorrespondent on assignment for Time magazine. Grozny. Crossfire [J].
4. 31 December – Bilal Akhmadov, cameraman for Marsho TV company. Grozny. Crossfire [J].

1995–1996 (incl. 1st Chechen conflict)

1995

1. 1 January – Vladimir Zhitarenko, correspondent of the Red Star (Krasnaya zvezda) newspaper, Chechnya. Crossfire [J].
2. 1 January – Pyotr Novikov, journalist with Smena magazine, Moscow. Homicide (linked to Anisimov killing in late 1994) [nJ].
3. 7 January – Sultan Nuriyev, Chechnya. Not Confirmed [?J].
4. 10 January – Jochen Piest, correspondent of the Stern magazine. Chervlyonnaya, Chechnya. Crossfire [J].
5. 14 January – Valentin Yanus, cameraman of Pskov city TV channel, Chechnya. Crossfire [J].
6. 17 February – Vyacheslav Rudnev, freelance journalist, Kaluga, published in local Vest and Znamya newspapers. Homicide [?J].
7. 27 February – Maxim Shabalin, politics editor of Nevskoe Vremya newspaper (St Petersburg). and Felix Titov, the paper's photographer, disappeared on an assignment to Chechnya. Despite numerous expeditions, from 1995 to 1999, no trace was found of the two men's remains. Missing [J].
8. 1 March – Vladislav Listyev, head of the new ORT TV Channel, shot dead in stairwell of his Moscow apartment block in a classic contract killing. Homicide [nJ].
9. 3 March – Igor Kaverin, engineer with Svobodnaya Nakhodka radio station, Primorsky Region. Shot in car, Homicide [nJ].
10. 8 March – Oleg Ochkasov, freelance journalist in Voronezh, writing for Vecherny Voronezh and Skandalnaya pochta newspapers. Homicide [nJ].
11. 16 March – Alexei Khropov, director of Vox radio station, recently off the air. Leningradskoe Highway, Moscow Region. Homicide [nJ].
12. 31 March – 23-year-old Ruslan Tsebiyev, Dudayev press service, Grozny, Chechnya. Homicide [?J].
13. 6 May – Malkan Suleimanova, journalist with Ichkeria newspaper (Grozny). Died under bombardment in Shatoi, Chechnya. Crossfire [J].
14. 22 May – Farkhad Kerimov, cameraman with Associated Press TV. Executed in Vedeno, Chechnya. Homicide (war crime)[J].
15. 5 May – Sergei Ivanov, went in search of Shabalin and Titov (above 27 February), south of Chechnya. Missing [J].
16. 6 June – Alexander Konovalenko, journalists with Krestyanskaya gazeta, Volgograd, beating in police station led to his death. Homicide. Killer convicted in 1998 [?J].
17. 17 June – Natalya Alyakina-Mroszek, Focus magazine (Germany) and other outlets. Shot near Budyonnovsk. Crossfire. Russian soldier found guilty of negligence in use of weapons, amnestied as Chechen war participant [J].
18. 25 July – Andrew Shumack Jr, freelance US photojournalist, St Petersburg Times. Grozny, Chechnya. Missing [?J].
19. 4 August – Sergei Nazarov, former presenter of popular TV show "Vremechko". Killed in Moscow. Homicide [nJ].
20. 10 August – Vadim Obekhov, columnist with Vesti newspaper, Petropavlovsk, Kamchatka Region. Homicide [nJ].
21. 2 November – Andrei Ulanov, chief editor of Togliatti segodnya newspaper. Togliatt, Samara Region. Contract killing, homicide [nJ].
22. 8 November – Sergei Ananyev, head of press service, East Siberian organised crime department. Murdered in Irkutsk. Outcome of 2000 trial not clear [nJ].
23. 12 December – Victor Litvinov, "Golos Rossii" radio station commentator, Moscow, died after street attack. Homicide [nJ].
24. 10 December – 25-year-old Yaroslav Zvaltsev, financial director of the Russky dom newspaper in Magnitogorsk, shot in contract killing. Homicide [nJ].
25. 12 December – Shamkhan Kagirov, correspondent of the Vozrozhdenie newspaper, Chechnya. Crossfire [J].
26. 26 December – Vadim Alferyev, worked as journalist for local press and TV in Krasnoyarsk, where he died after a savage beating. Homicide [?J].

1996

1. 25 January – Oleg Slabynko, founder of "Moment Istiny" corporation, producer of a program of the same name, a director of ORT (today Channel One TV), murdered in his Moscow apartment. Contract killing [nJ].
2. 8 February – Yury Litvinov, engineer, and Alexander Zaitsev, director, of Forward cable television. Found shot in car, Dalnegorsk, Primorsky Region. Contract killing? [nJ].
3. 26 February – Felix Solovyov, famous photographer, Aeroflot journal editorial board, murdered in Moscow. Homicide [nJ].
4. 11 March – Victor Pimenov, cameraman with Vaynakh TV company (Chechnya). Grozny, Chechnya. Crossfire [J].
5. 30 March – Nadezhda Chaikova, investigative journalist for Obshchaya Gazeta, executed in Chechnya, body found near village of Gekhi. Homicide (war crime) [J].
6. 18 April – Anatoly Yagodin, correspondent for Na Boyevom Postu forces newspaper, killed by Chechen militants. Assinovskaya, Chechnya. Crossfire [J].
7. 9 May – Nina Yefimova, correspondent for Vozrozhdeniye newspaper, Chechnya. Grozny, Chechnya. Homicide [J].
8. 11 May – Victor Mikhailov, crime correspondent for Zabaikalsky rabochy newspaper. Chita. Homicide [nJ].
9. 26 July – Nikita Chigarkov, staff member of Utrenniy ekspress, beaten and robbed. Moscow. Homicide [nJ].
10. 1 August – Ivan Gogun, Groznensky rabochy correspondent. Grozny, Chechnya. Crossfire [J].
11. 11 August – Ramzan Khadjiev, ORT correspondent, shot outside checkpoint in Chechnya. Grozny, Chechnya. Crossfire [J].
12. 16 September – En Chan Kim, correspondent for various Sakhalin newspapers and Blagodatnaya Semya magazine. Zhulebino, Moscow. Homicide [nJ].
13. 27 October – Anatoly Tyutinkov, assistant chief editor of Vecherniy Peterburg. Incident not confirmed, St Petersburg. [nJ]
14. 29 October – Lev Bogomolov, Kaluga Vechernyaya chief editor, Kaluga. Incident not confirmed [nJ].
15. 31 October – Sergei Semisotov, Editor of Traktir po Pyatnitsam newspaper. Volgograd. Homicide [nJ].
16. 10 November – Marina Gorelova, reporter for Otechestvo TV company and Yury Shmakov, Otechestvo TV consultant. Kotlyakovskoe cemetery, Moscow. Terrorist act. Two convicted in 2003 for 16 deaths, incl. two journalists, caused by the explosion. [J]
17. 6 December – Kirill Polenov, freelance journalist. Vladikavkaz, North Ossetia. Homicide [nJ].
18. 7 December – Anatoly Belousov, deputy chief editor of Red Star (Krasnaya Zvezda)., Moscow Region. Homicide [nJ].

1997–1999

1997

1. 16 January – Alexei Yeldashov, journalist for local print and rado. Khabarovsk, Primorsky Region. Homicide [nJ].
2. 16 January – Nikolai Lapin, chief editor "Obo vsyom" newspaper. Togliatti, Samara Region. Homicide [nJ].
3. 3 February – Yury Baldin, chief editor at Focus TV. Chelyabinsk. Homicide [nJ].
4. 12 February – Vyacheslav Zvonarev, editor with Takt TV company. Kursk. Homicide [nJ].
5. 25 February – Vadim Biryukov, chief editor of "Delovye lyudi" magazine, Novolesnaya St, Moscow. Homicide [nJ].
6. 23 March – Vladimir Aliev, Prokhladnoe, Kabardino-Balkaria. Homicide [nJ].
7. 30 March – Nikolai Mozolin, Kirovsk, Leningrad Region. Homicide [nJ].
8. 10 May – Alexander Korkin, Pereslavl-Zalessky, Yaroslavl Region. Homicide [nJ].
9. 6 August – Valery Krivosheyev, Lipetsk. Homicide [nJ].
10. 19 October – Lydia Lazarenko, Nizhny Novgorod. Homicide [nJ].

1998

1. 30 January – Vladimir Zbaratsky, Mosfilmoskaya St, Moscow. Homicide [nJ].
2. 2 April – Ivan Fedyunin, correspondent of the Bryanskie Izvestia newspaper. Homicide, Bryansk [nJ].
3. 6 April – Lira Lobach, media worker. district, Tomsk Region. Homicide [nJ].
4. 20 May – Igor Myasnikov, Kineshma, Yaroslavl Region. Homicide [nJ].
5. 7 June – Larisa Yudina, chief editor of the Sovetskaya Kalmykia Segodnya newspaper. Elista, Kalmykia. Contract killing. Perpetrators convicted (1999), but not those behind her murder [J].
6. 28 July – Vladimir Ustinov, Ivanovo. Homicide [nJ].
7. 17 August – Sergei Semenduyev, Makhachkala, Dagestan. Missing [nJ].
8. 24 August – Anatoly Levin-Utkin, St Petersburg. Homicide [?J].
9. 27 August – Mirbaba Seidov, homicide, Kaliningrad Region. Homicide [nJ].
10. 29 August – Victor Shamro, homicide, St Petersburg. Homicide [nJ].
11. 2 September – Farid Sidaui, correspondent of the Prosto nedvizhimost magazine. Ramenka St, Moscow. Homicide [nJ].
12. 30 December – Sergei Chechugo, Vladivostok. Not confirmed [?J].

1999

1. 19 February – Gennady Bodrov, Homicide [nJ].
2. 25 February – Valentina Mirolyubova and Nikolai Mirolyubov, Homicide [nJ].
3. 4 March – Andrei Polyakov, Homicide [nJ].
4. 30 May – Alexei Kulanov, Homicide [nJ].
5. 30 June – Vadim Rudenko, Homicide.
6. 30 August – Lubov Loboda, Kuibyshev (Novosibirsk Region). Contract killing. Perpetrator, intermediary and man who ordered her dead all charged and convicted [nJ].
7. 27 September – Christopher Reese, Moscow. Homicide [nJ].
8. 27 October – Supyan Ependiyev, correspondent of the Groznenskiy Rabochy newspaper, Chechnya. Crossfire [J].
9. 29 October – Cameramen Shamil Gigayev and Ramzan Mezhidov, national TVC channel and local Chechen TV. Shami-Yurt, Chechnya. Crossfire. 2005 Judgment by European Court of Human Rights [J].

Under Putin (incl. 2nd Chechen conflict)

2000–2002

2000

1. 1 February – Vladimir Yatsina, a photocorrespondent with ITAR-TASS. On his first and only trip to Chechnya he was kidnapped and later killed (by a group of Wahhabis some suggest). Homicide [J].
2. 10 February – Ludmila Zamana, Samara. Homicide. Conviction [nJ].
3. 9 March – Artyom Borovik, Sovershenno sekretno periodical and publishing house, director and journalist. Sheremetyevo-1 Airport, Moscow. Incident not confirmed [?J].
4. 22 March – Luisa Arzhieva, correspondent for Istina mira newspaper (Moscow). Avtury, Chechnya. Crossfire [?J].
5. 17 April – Oleg Polukeyev, Homicide.
6. 1 May – Boris Gashev, literary critic. Homicide. Conviction [nJ].
7. 13 May – Alexander Yefremov, Chechnya. A photojournalist with west Siberian newspaper Nashe Vremya, Yefremov died when militants blew up a military jeep in which he was travelling. On previous assignments, Yefremov won acclaim for his news photographs from the war-torn region. Crossfire [J].
8. 16 July – Igor Domnikov, from Novaya Gazeta, Moscow. Struck over the head with a hammer in the stairwell of his Moscow apartment building, Domnikov lay in a coma for two months. His murderer was identified in 2003 and convicted in 2007 [2]. The men who ordered and organised the attack have been named by his paper but not charged. Homicide [J].
9. 26 July – Sergei Novikov, Radio Vesna, Smolensk. Shot in a contract killing in stairwell of his apartment building. Claimed that he often criticized the administration of Smolensk Region. Homicide [?J].
10. 21 September – Iskander Khatloni, Radio Free Europe, Moscow. A native of Tajikistan, Khatloni was killed at night in an axe attack on the street outside his Moscow apartment block. His assailant and the motive of the murder remain unknown. A RFE/RL spokeswoman said Khatloni worked on stories about the human-rights abuses in Chechnya. Homicide [nJ].
11. 3 October – Sergei Ivanov, Lada-TV, Togliatti. Shot five times in the head and chest in front of his apartment building. As director of largest independent television company in Togliatti, he was an important player on the local political scene. Homicide. Gang responsible on trial [nJ].
12. 18 October – Georgy Garibyan, journalist with Park TV (Rostov), murdered in Rostov-on-Don [nJ].
13. 20 October – Oleg Goryansky, freelance journalist, press & TV. Murdered in Cherepovets, Vologda Region. Conviction [nJ].
14. 21 October – Raif Ablyashev, photographer with Iskra newspaper. Kungur, Perm Region. Homicide [nJ].
15. 3 November – Sergei Loginov, Lada TV (Togliatti). Incident not confirmed [nJ].
16. 20 November – Pavel Asaulchenko, cameraman for Austrian TV, Moscow. Contract killing. Conviction of perpetrator [nJ].
17. 23 November – Adam Tepsurkayev, Reuters, Chechnya. A Chechen cameraman, he was shot at his neighbor's house in the village of Alkhan-Kala (aka Yermolovka). Tepsurkayev filmed most of Reuters' footage from Chechnya in 2000, including the Chechen rebel Shamil Basayev having his foot amputated. Homicide (war crime) [J].
18. 28 November – Nikolai Karmanov, retired journalist. Lyubim, Yaroslavl Region. Homicide [nJ].
19. 23 December – Valery Kondakov, freelance photographer. Killed in Armavir, Krasnodar Region [nJ].

2001

1. 1 February – Eduard Burmagin, Homicide.
2. 24 February – Leonid Grigoryev, Homicide [nJ].
3. 8 March – Andrei Pivovarov, Homicide.
4. 31 March – Oleg Dolgantsev, Homicide [nJ].
5. 17 May – Vladimir Kirsanov, chief editor. Kurgan, Urals Federal District. Homicide [J].
6. 2 June – Victor Popkov, Novaya gazeta contributore, died in Moscow Region hospital. Wounded in Chechnya two months earlier. Crossfire [J].
7. 11 September – Andrei Sheiko, Homicide [nJ].
8. 19 September – Eduard Markevich, 29, editor and publisher of local newspaper Novy Reft in Sverdlovsk Region. Shot in the back in a contract killing, homicide [J].
9. 5 November – Elina Voronova, Homicide [nJ].
10. 16 November – Oleg Vedenin, Homicide.
11. 21 November – Alexander Babaikin, Homicide [nJ].
12. 1 December – Boris Mityurev, Homicide.

2002

1. 18 January – Svetlana Makarenko, Homicide.
2. 4 March – Konstantin Pogodin, Novoye Delo newspaper, Nizhni Novgorod. Homicide.
3. 8 March – Natalya Skryl, Nashe Vremya newspaper, Taganrog. Homicide [?J].
4. 31 March – Valery Batuyev, Moscow News newspaper, Moscow. Homicide [nJ].
5. 1 April – Sergei Kalinovsky, Moskovskij Komsomolets local edition, Smolensk. Homicide [nJ].
6. 4 April – Vitaly Sakhn-Vald, photojournalist, Kursk. Homicide. Conviction [nJ].
7. 25 April – Leonid Shevchenko, Pervoye Chtenie newspaper, Volgograd. Homicide [nJ].
8. 29 April – Valery Ivanov, founder and chief editor of Tolyattinskoye Obozrenie newspaper, Samara Region. Contract killing [J].
9. 20 May – Alexander Plotnikov, Gostiny Dvor newspaper, Tyumen. Homicide.
10. 6 June – Pavel Morozov, Homicide.
11. 25 June – Oleg Sedinko, founder of Novaya Volna TV & Radio Company, Vladivostok. Contract killing, explosive in stairwell [nJ].
12. 20 July – Nikolai Razmolodin, general director of Europroject TV & Radio Company, Ulyanovsk. Homicide.
13. 21 July – Maria Lisichkina Homicide [nJ].
14. 27 July – Sergei Zhabin, press service of the Moscow Region governor. Homicide [nJ].
15. 18 August – Nikolai Vasiliev, Cheboksary city, Chuvashia. Homicide. Conviction [nJ].
16. 25 August – Paavo Voutilainen, former chief editor of Karelia magazine, Karelia. Homicide [nJ].
17. 4 September – Leonid Kuznetsov, "Periodicals of Mari-El" publishing house, Yoshkar-Ola. Incident not confirmed [?J].
18. 20 September – Igor Salikov, head of information security at Moskovskij Komsomolets newspaper in Penza. Contract killing [nJ].
19. 26 September – Roderick (Roddy) Scott, Frontline TV Company, Great Britain. Crossfire [J].
20. 2 October – Yelena Popova, Homicide. Conviction [nJ].
21. 19 October – Leonid Plotnikov Homicide. Conviction [nJ].
22. 26 October – Tamara Voinova (Stavropol) and Maxim Mikhailov (Kaliningrad), Dubrovka theatre siege ("Nord Ost" show), Moscow. Terrorist Act [nJ].
23. 21 December – Dmitry Shalayev, Kazan, Tatarstan. Homicide. Conviction [nJ].

2003–2005

2003

1. 7 January – Vladimir Sukhomlin, Internet journalist and editor, Serbia.ru, Moscow. Homicide. Off-duty police convicted of his murder, not those behind this contract killing [J].
2. 11 January – Yury Tishkov, sports commentator, Moscow. Contract killing [nJ].
3. 21 February – Sergei Verbitsky, publisher BNV newspaper. Chita. Homicide [nJ].
4. 18 April – Dmitry Shvets, TV-21 Northwestern Broadcasting, Murmansk. Deputy director of the independent TV-21 station (Northwestern Broadcasting), he was shot dead outside the TV offices. Shvets' colleagues said the station had received multiple threats for its reporting on influential local politicians. Contract killing [nJ].
5. 3 July – Yury Shchekochikhin, Novaya gazeta, Moscow. Deputy editor of Novaya gazeta and a Duma deputy since 1993, he died just a few days before his scheduled trip to USA to discuss the results of his journalist investigation with FBI officials. He investigated "Three Whales Corruption Scandal" that allegedly involved high-ranking FSB officials. Shchekochikhin died from an acute allergic reaction. There has been much speculation about cause of his death. Investigation into his death has been opened and closed four times. Homicide [J].
6. 4 July – Ali Astamirov, France Presse. Went missing in Nazran [?J].
7. 18 July – Alikhan Guliyev, freelance TV journalist, from Ingushetia. Moscow. Homicide [nJ].
8. 10 August – Martin Kraus, Dagestan. On way to Chechnya. Homicide [nJ].
9. 9 October – Alexei Sidorov, Tolyatinskoye Obozreniye, Togliatti. Second editor-in-chief of this local newspaper to be murdered. Predecessor Valery Ivanov shot in April 2002. Homicide. Supposed killer acquitted [?J].
10. 24 October – Alexei Bakhtin, journalist and businessman, formerly Mariiskaya pravda. Mari El. Homicide [nJ].
11. 30 October – Yury Bugrov, editor of Provincial Telegraph. Balakovo, Saratov Region. Homicide. Conviction [nJ].
12. 25 December – Pyotr Babenko, editor of Liskinskaya gazeta. Liski, Voronezh Region. Homicide [nJ].

2004

1. 1 February – Yefim Sukhanov, ATK-Media, Archangelsk. Homicide. Conviction [nJ].
2. 23 March – Farit Urazbayev, cameraman, Vladivostok TV/Radio Company, Vladivostok. Incident not Confirmed [nJ].
3. 2 May – Shangysh Mongush, correspondent with Khemchiktin Syldyzy newspaper, Tuva. Homicide [?J].
4. 9 May – Adlan Khasanov, Reuters reporter, died in Grozny bomb attack that killed Chechen President Ahmed Kadyrov. Terrorist Act [J].
5. 9 June – Paul Klebnikov, chief editor of newly established Russian version of Forbes magazine, Moscow. Contract killing, alleged perpetrators put on trial and acquitted. Homicide [J].
6. 1 July – Maxim Maximov, journalist with Gorod newspaper, St Petersburg. Body not found. Homicide [J].
7. 10 July – Zoya Ivanova, TV presenter, Buryatia State Television & Radio Company, Ulan Ude, Buryatia. Homicide [nJ].
8. 17 July – Pail Peloyan, editor of Armyansky Pereulok magazine, Moscow. Homicide [nJ].
9. 3 August – Vladimir Naumov, nationalist reporter, Cossack author (Russky Vestnik, Zavtra), Moscow Region. Homicide [nJ].
10. 24 August – Svetlana Shishkina, journalist, Kazan, Tatarstan. Homicide. Conviction [nJ].
11. 24 August – Oleg Belozyorov, Moscow-Volgograd flight. Terrorist Act [nJ].
12. 18 September – Vladimir Pritchin, editor-in-chief of North Baikal TV & Radio Company, Buryatia. Homicide [?J].
13. 27 September – Jan Travinsky (St Petersburg), in Irkutsk as political activist for election campaign. Homicide. Conviction [nJ].

2005

1. 23 May – Pavel Makeyev, reporter for TNT-Pulse Company, Rostov-on-Don. Run down while photographing illegal street racing. Incident not Confirmed [?J].
2. 28 July – Magomed Varisov, political analyst and journalist, shot dead near his home in Makhachkala, Dagestan. He "had received threats, was being followed and had unsuccessfully sought help from the local police" according to Committee to Protect Journalists. Sharia Jamaat claimed responsibility for the murder. Homicide [J].
3. 31 August – Alexander Pitersky, Baltika Radio reporter, Saint Petersburg. Homicide [?J].
4. 3 September – Vladimir Pashutin, Smolensky Literator newspaper, Smolensk. Not Confirmed [nJ].
5. 13 October – Tamirlan Kazikhanov, head of press service for Anti-Terrorist Center of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs's Main Department for the Southern Federal District, Nalchik. Crossfire [J].
6. 4 November – Kira Lezhneva, reporter with Kamensky rabochii newspaper, Sverdlovsk Region. Homicide. Conviction [nJ].

2006–2008

2006

1. 8 January – Vagif Kochetkov, newly appointed Trud correspondent in the region, killed and robbed in Tula. Acquittal [nJ].
2. 26 February – Ilya Zimin, worked for NTV Russia television channel, killed in Moscow flat. Suspect in Moldova trial. Acquittal [nJ].
3. 4 May – Oksana Teslo, media worker, Moscow Region. Arson attack on dacha. Homicide [nJ].
4. 14 May – Oleg Barabyshkin, director of radio station, Chelyabinsk. Homicide. Conviction [nJ].
5. 23 May – Vyacheslav Akatov, special reporter, Business Moscow TV show, murdered in Mytyshchi Moscow Region. Killer caught and convicted. Homicide. Conviction [nJ].
6. 25 June – Anton Kretenchuk, cameraman, local Channel 38 TV, killed in Rostov-on-Don. Homicide. Conviction [nJ].
7. 25 July – Yevgeny Gerasimenko, journalist with Saratovsky Rasklad newspaper. Murdered in Saratov. Conviction [nJ].
8. 31 July – Anatoly Kozulin, retired freelance journalist. Ukhta, Komi. Homicide [nJ].
9. 8 August – Alexander Petrov, editor-in-chief, Right to Choose magazine Omsk, murdered with family while on holiday in Altai Republic. Under-age murderer charged and prosecuted. Homicide. Conviction [nJ].
10. 17 August – Elina Ersenoyeva, reporter for Chechenskoye obshchestvo newspaper. Abducted in Grozny, Chechnya. Missing [?J].
11. 13 September – Vyacheslav Plotnikov, reporter, local "Channel 41" TV, Voronezh. Incident not Confirmed [nJ].
12. 7 October – Anna Politkovskaya, commentator with Novaya Gazeta, Moscow, shot in her apartment building's elevator;. Four accused in contract killing, acquitted in February 2009 [J].
13. 16 October – Anatoly Voronin, Itar-TASS news agency, Moscow. Homicide [nJ].
14. 28 December – Vadim Kuznetsov, editor-in-chief of World & Home. Saint Petersburg magazine, killed in Saint Petersburg. Homicide [nJ].

2007

1. 14 January – Yury Shebalkin, retired journalist, formerly with Kaliningradskaya pravda. Homicide in Kaliningrad. Conviction [nJ].
2. 20 January – Konstantin Borovko, presenter of "Gubernia" TV company (Russian: "Губерния"), killed in Khabarovsk. Homicide. Conviction [nJ].
3. 2 March – Ivan Safronov, military columnist of Kommersant newspaper. Died in Moscow, cause of death disputed. Incident not Confirmed. Investigation under Incitement to Suicide (Article 110) [?J].
4. 15 March – Leonid Etkind, director at Karyera newspaper. Abduction and homicide in Vodnik, Saratov Region. Conviction [nJ].
5. 5 April – Vyacheslav Ifanov, Novoye televidenie Aleiska, cameraman. Previously attacked by local military. Aleisk, Altai. Incident not Confirmed [?J].

• Marina Pisareva, deputy head of Russian office of German media group Bertelsmann was found dead at her country cottage outside Moscow in April

2008

(Putin's final months as president)

1. 8 February – Yelena Shestakova, former journalist, St Petersburg. Killer sent to psychiatric prison. Homicide [nJ].
2. 21 March – Gadji Abashilov, chief of Dagestan State TV & Radio Company VGTRK, shot in his car in Makhachkala. Homicide [?J].
3. 21 March – Ilyas Shurpayev, Dagestani journalist covering Caucasus on Channel One, was strangled with a belt by robbers in Moscow. Alleged killers tracked to Tajikistan and convicted there of his murder. Homicide [?J].

The Medvedev presidency

2008–2011

2008

1. 31 August – Magomed Yevloyev, Ingush oppositionist, founder of Ingushetiya.ru, Moscow-based lawyer, shot on return to country while in custody of Ingush police officers. Killer convicted of negligent homicide, sentence subsequently mitigated. Homicide. Conviction [J].
2. 2 September – Abdulla Alishayev, (aka Telman Alishayev), TV presenter on Muslim channel, shot dead in car, Makhachkala. Homicide [J].

2009

1. 4 January – Shafig Amrakhov, editor of news agency RIA 51, Murmansk, was shot in stairwell entrance from the traumatic pistol on 30 December 2008 and died in hospital. Homicide [nJ].
2. 4 January – Vladislav Zakharchuk, manager of the Arsenyevskie Vesti newspaper in Vladivostok. Died in a fire under suspicious circumstances.
3. 19 January – Anastasia Baburova, Novaya Gazeta, Moscow. On 19 January Stanislav Markelov, lawyer for Novaya gazeta, anti-fascist activist and opponent of human rights abuses in Chechnya, was shot and killed in the centre of Moscow. With him died Anastasia Baburova, a trainee reporter with Novaya Gazeta, and a fellow anti-fascist activist. In early November 2009 a man and a woman were arrested for the killing.
4. 30 March – Sergei Protazanov, layout artist with Grazhdanskoye soglasie newspaper, Khimki nr. Moscow. Link to work questioned. Incident not Confirmed [nJ].
5. 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.
6. 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 dead, by the roadside several hours later in neighbouring Ingushetia. Homicide [J].
7. 11 August – Malik Akhmedilov, deputy chief editor of the Avar language newspaper Khakikat (Truth), was found shot dead near the Dagestan capital Makhachkala. Homicide [?J].
8. 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. Homicide [?J].
9. 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" (Article 110). [?J].

2010

1. 20 January – Konstantin Popov died from a beating received a fortnight earlier by Russian police, in a detoxification centre for drunk and disorderly. 26-year-old police sergeant charged with his killing. Homicide [nJ].
2. 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. Homicide [nJ].
3. 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. "Crime solved", says Investigative Committee.
4. 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 driver. Homicide [?J]
5. 13 May – Said Magomedov, director of local television station, Sergokalinsky district, Dagestan. Shot dead when travelling with repairmen to restore sabotaged TV transmitter. Terrorist act [J].
6. 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. Homicide [?J].
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. 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. [J]
10. 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

1. 15 December – Gadzhimurat Kamalov, Makhachkala. Investigative reporter – shot 6 times in a drive-by outside his newspaper's offices.

Under Putin

2012

1. 7 July - Alexander Khodzinsky, journalist in Tulun, was stabbed to death by a local businessman Gennady Zhigarev, former deputy.
2. 5 December - Kazbek Gekkiev, journalist for local TV programmes in Kabardino-Balkaria, was shot dead on street of Nalchik, after threats from local wahhabi extremists.

2013

1. 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. 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 for a number of times and received death threats.
2. October - freelance journalist Valeryin Donskoy died of pneumonia in Moscow, following the harsh detention conditions to which he was subjected close to the Russian-Ukrainian border.

2016

1. March 31- journalist Dmitry Tsilikin was stabbed to death in his flat in Saint Petersburg. The suspected killer is a neo-nazi Sergey Kosyrev and the murder is attributed to Tsilikin's homosexual orientation.

Journalists killed reporting on Chechnya

This category overlaps with that for Russia as a whole. It highlights the link in these extreme conditions between journalism, public activism and human rights activities. In their different ways the deaths of Dmitry Krikoryants, Dmitry Kholodov, Nadezhda Chaikova, Viktor Popkov, Anna Politkovskaya, Anastasia Baburova, Stanislav Markelov and Natalia Estemirova all show that the troubled situation in the small North Caucasian republic reaches well beyond its formal borders.

For all who died, or received their fatal wounds, in Chechnya see records in IFJ database. There were those killed in locations near or far from the North Caucasian republic, e.g. Natalya Alyakina, Anna Politkovskaya, whose deaths were also a consequence of the armed conflict in Chechnya.

1993

• Dmitry Krikoryants, night of 14–15 April 1993, Grozny. Murdered over a year before open conflict broke out in Chechnya (first between pro-Dudayev and pro-Moscow factions, then with the intervention of federal forces), the killing of Krikoryants was linked to his investigation of corrupt activities of the local regime, at home and abroad.

1st Chechen war, 1994–1996

• Cynthia Elbaum. On assignment for Time magazine (USA), Cynthia was photographing in the streets of Grozny, when she was killed in a Russian bombing raid in 1994.
• Vladimir Zhitarenko, a veteran military correspondent for the Russian armed forces daily Krasnaya Zvezda (Red Star), was hit by two sniper bullets outside the town of Tolstoy-Yurt, near the Chechen capital of Grozny on 31 December 1994.
• Nina Yefimova, a reporter for the new Vozrozhdenie (Revival) newspaper was abducted from her apartment and killed together with her mother. Journalists in Grozny and Moscow believe that her murder was related to stories she had published on crime in Chechnya.
• Jochen Piest. On 10 January 1995 Piest, a correspondent with Stern magazine (Germany), was killed in an attack by a Chechen rebel against a Russian mine-clearing unit in Chervlyonna, a village 24 kilometers northeast of Grozny. Rossiskaya Gazeta correspondent Vladimir Sorokin was wounded in the attack; Piest was fatally hit by three bullets.
• Farkhad Kerimov. Farkhad Kerimov was murdered on 22 May 1995 while filming for Associated Press behind rebel lines in Chechnya. No motive has ever been established for the killing.
• Natalya Alyakina. Natalya Alyakina, a free-lance correspondent for German news outlets, was shot dead in June by a soldier after clearing a Russian checkpoint near the southern Russian city of Budyonnovsk.
• Shamkhan Kagirov. Kagirov, a reporter for the Moscow daily Rossiyskaya Gazeta and the local Vozrozhenie newspaper, was shot and killed in an ambush in Chechnya. Kagirov and three local police officers were traveling in a car near Grozny when they were attacked. The three officers were also killed.
• Viktor Pimenov. On 11 March 1996, Pimenov, a cameraman with the local "Vainakh" TV company was fatally shot in the back by a sniper positioned on the roof of a 16-story building in Grozny. Pimenov had been filming the devastation caused to the Chechen capital by the 6–9 March rebel raid on the city. Pimenov was posthumously awarded the Rory Peck Award.
• Nadezhda Chaikova. On 20 March 1996 Chaikova, correspondent for the Obshchaya gazeta (Moscow) weekly newspaper disappeared while on assignment. Her body was found buried in the Chechen village of Gekhi on 11 April, blindfolded and bearing signs of mistreatment. The cause of death was a gunshot wound to the back of the head. The identity of her executioners remains disputed. According to documents from Dudaev's archive, that came into hands of Russian special services in 2002, she was killed by people from so called "Department of state security of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria" (Russian: Департамент государственной безопасности ЧРИ). At the time there were strong suspicions that Russian security services were involved.

September 1996 to October 1999

No journalists are recorded as having been killed between September 1996 and October 1999 but 22 were kidnapped during these three years and later released.

2nd Chechen war, 1999 onwards

A counter-terrorist operation by the federal authorities began in the region in September 1999. It was declared over on 16 April 2009.

• Journalist Supyan Ependiyev. On the evening of 27 October 1999, several short-range ballistic missile hit a crowded outdoor market in central Grozny, killing or wounding hundreds of people. About an hour after the attack, Ependiyev went to the scene to cover the carnage for his paper. As he was leaving the site, a new round of rockets fell about 200 meters from the bazaar. Ependiyev suffered severe shrapnel wounds and died in a Grozny hospital the next morning. According to other sources, he died two days later.
• Cameramen Ramzan Mezhidov and Shamil Gigayev. The journalists were part of a civilian convoy, including Red Cross workers and vehicles, attempting to leave Chechnya on 29 October 1999. Turned back at the republic's eastern border, they were travelling along the highway from Grozny to Nazran in neighboring Ingushetia when their vehicles came under attack. As the convoy approached Shami-Yurt, a Russian fighter fired several time from the air, hitting a busload of refugees. Mezhidov and Gigayev left their vehicle to film the carnage. As they approached the bus, another Russian rocket hit a nearby truck, fatally wounding both journalists.
• Photojournalist Vladimir Yatsina, an ITAR-TASS staff member freelancing on his only trip to Chechnya, was kidnapped and killed there by a group of Wahhabis on 19 July 1999.
• Antonio Russo, an Italian freelance journalist was killed on 16 October 2000 in Tbilisi, Georgia. His body was found near a Russian army base. He had come to the Georgian capital to document the Chechnya conflict as a Radio Radicale reporter, working for a radio station belonging to the Italian Radical Party (Partito Radicale). His body carried injuries caused by torture, probably from military techniques. None of the tapes, articles and writings left in his Georgian apartment have been found.
• Aleksandr Yefremov. A photojournalist of the western Siberian newspaper Nashe Vremya was killed in Chechnya when rebels blew up a military jeep in which he was riding. On previous assignments, Yefremov had won acclaim for his news photographs from the war-torn region.
• Cameraman and editor Roddy Scott. On 26 September 2002, Scott was killed in Ingushetia. Russian soldiers found his body in the republic's Galashki region, near the border with Chechnya, following a bloody battle between Russian forces and a group of Chechen fighters.
• Former teacher and TV journalist Natalia Estemirova, now an award-winning Russian human rights activist, board member of the Russian NGO Memorial, and author for Novaya gazeta was murdered on 15 July 2009. Estemirova was abducted around 8.30 am from outside her home in Grozny, Chechnya as she was working on "extremely sensitive" cases of human rights abuses in Chechnya. Two witnesses reportedly saw Estemirova being pushed into a car, shouting that she was being abducted. She was found with bullet wounds in the head and chest at 4.30 pm in woodland 100 m (328 ft) away from the "Kavkaz" federal highway near the village of Gazi-Yurt, Ingushetia.
• On 1 August Malika Betiyeva was killed on the 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 in a car crash.

See also

• Russian mafia
• List of newspapers in Russia
• List of Russian-language television channels
• Media freedom in Russia
• List of journalists killed in Tajikistan

External links

• Glasnost Defence Foundation
• Center for Journalism in Extreme Situations
• Committee to Protect Journalists
• International Federation of Journalists
• Transcript of "Czar Putin", a CNN documentary investigating how many journalists have been killed in Russia since 1991