H.E. Vladimir Putin
President of the Russian Federation
The Kremlin
Moscow
Russian Federation

Fax: + 7 095 206 51 73

Vienna, 10 October 2003

Your Excellency,

The International Press Institute (IPI), the global network of editors, media executives, and leading journalists in over 115 countries, is greatly concerned about the murder of Aleksey Sidorov, the editor-in-chief of independent newspaper Togliattinskoe Obozrenie (“Togliatti Review”) on 9 October.

According to information provided to IPI, Sidorov was knifed to death by unidentified men near his home in the city of Togliatti, in the Volga region of central Russia, on the evening of 9 October. He died before the arrival of the emergency services. A statement from the Office of the Prosecutor of the Samara region said Sidorov’s murder bore the hallmarks of a “contract killing”. With the largest circulation in Togliatti, Togliattinskoe Obozrenie has a reputation for its strong criticism of local criminal groups.

Prior to Sidorov’s death, the newspaper was investigating criminal groups connected to the largest car manufacturer in Russia, AutoVAZ. In particular, Aleksey Sidorov was preparing articles on theft by representatives of the so-called Volga criminal group, whose ten members are now awaiting the verdict of a Togliatti court.

Responding to Sidorov’s murder, the governor of the Samara region, Konstantin Titov, sent a telegram expressing his condolences to Sidorov’s relatives and friends on 10 October. The telegram said, “This tragedy should force us to realize that a free civil society will not appear by itself. Joint efforts and actions by the authorities, civil society, and the press are necessary for its formation”.

The secretary general of the Union of Russian Journalists, Igor Jakovenko, said that Sidorov’s murder might be connected to his work on the radio station Echo of Moscow. He went on to say that “the censorship organ Glavlit [Glavnoe upravlenie po delam literaturi i izdatelstv: the central regulatory body for literary and editorial affairs] has been replaced by the censorship of the Kalashnikov rifle”.

According to Jakovenko, in the thirteen years since the new law on the mass media ended overt censorship some 200 journalists have been killed in Russia because of their profession. He considers the biggest problem to be the fact that very few of these crimes have been solved and he finds it highly disturbing that the authorities have failed to react to this unfolding tragedy in Russia. Aleksey Sidorov is apparently the sixth journalist to be murdered in the Samara region by a contract killer. All of these cases remain unsolved.

Sidorov’s stabbing is not the first time a staff member from Togliattinskoe Obozrenie has been murdered. On the night of 29 to 30 April 2002, the body of Sidorov’s predecessor and founder of the newspaper, Valery Ivanov, was discovered shot to death in his car in the courtyard of his house. At the time of his death, Ivanov was investigating corruption among local officials. No one has been convicted of Ivanov’s murder.

IPI is deeply concerned about the developing situation in Russia. Two journalists have already been killed in Russia this year, with a further eight killed in 2002. This is the highest number of journalist deaths in Europe and one of the highest in the world. As a result, Russia is one of the most dangerous countries in the world to practice journalism.

With the above in mind, IPI condemns this latest violation of press freedom and calls on Your Excellency to ensure that there is a thorough investigation into these murders and that those responsible are swiftly brought to justice. We further urge the Russian government to work with the media to create an environment in Russia that allows journalists to practice their profession free of harassment and the threat of death.

We thank you for your attention.

Yours sincerely,

Johann P. Fritz
Director

Background Note:
Russia was placed on the IPI Watch List on 23 June 2000. In its Open Letter to President Putin IPI said, “Despite initial comments by Your Excellency that freedom of the press would be encouraged, IPI believes that Your Excellency’s words have not been matched by firm deeds… . The deterioration in press freedom has manifested itself in a series of disturbing incidents including threats to block the renewal of licenses, the government’s attempts to replace independent journalists with obedient political appointees and plans to require licensing of newspapers.”