Truth lies bleeding in Putin's Russia

MOSCOW – It is 11am and the Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta is holding its editorial conference. Seated at the top of the table Dmitry Muratov, the paper's bearded editor-in-chief, is flanked by his senior team.

Over cups of tea, the journalists mull over the morning papers. They discuss possible stories: the Kremlin is spending more on propaganda; migrant workers in Russia are leaving; there is trouble in Chechnya. Oh, and two fed-up hacks working for Russian television have locked themselves in a cupboard.

The mood is good-natured; there are arguments and jokes. But nobody doubts the seriousness of Novaya Gazeta. On the wall is a photo-gallery of dead colleagues. There is Anna Politkovskaya, Novaya's feted special correspondent, shot dead in October 2006.

Next to her is the paper's deputy editor Yuri Shchekochikhin (mysteriously poisoned). Then there is reporter Igor Domnikov (bludgeoned to death). Two new black-and-white photos have just been hung on the wall.

One shows Stanislav Markelov, who was one of Russia's best-known human rights defenders. The other is of Anastasia Baburova, a 25-year-old freelancer for the newspaper.

An armed assailant killed them both on January 19, a few minutes' walk from the Kremlin. Markelov died instantly; Baburova lay dying in the snow.

The photos provide a constant reminder of how dangerous the most basic function of journalism - telling the truth - has become in Vladimir Putin's Russia.

Soft censorship defines the media landscape, and editors know instinctively which boundaries not to cross (the most important rule: never criticise Putin). Novaya is the last major publication consistently critical of Kremlin power.

It covers corruption, human rights abuses in Chechnya and the neighbouring republics of Ingushetia and Dagestan, and the work of Russia's post-KGB secret service, the FSB. It is, in short, dedicated to real journalism, unlike Russian television and most other newspapers, all under Putin's thumb.

Why is Novaya allowed to continue to publish? According to Andrei Lipsky, its deputy editor, it plays a useful role for the Kremlin, allowing it to ridicule the frequent charge in Washington and European capitals there is no freedom of speech in Russia.

More importantly, he adds, it provides information on the state of the nation for the country's nervous ruling elite.

"Novaya Gazeta lies on the tables of the presidential administration and all regional governors," Lipsky says.

"Putin reads it, or people around him read it for him. The newspaper is a crucial source. They have liquidated many real sources, starting with television."

The paper's most attentive readers are said to be the siloviki (from a Russian word for "power"), Russia's military intelligence clan, many of whom served in the KGB and now run the Government.

"The special services have their own sources, but they know that most of what they get from their agents is nonsense," Lipsky says.

"We paint the real picture."

And Novaya's articles also enable the Kremlin's competing factions to gather information about each other - dirt to be dished against rivals later: "Power in Russia is not monolithic. It's a complex structure of interests," Lipsky explains.

Founded in 1993 under Yeltsin, the paper's circulation has risen to 240,000 copies a week, as Russians grow disenchanted with the state media. Twice-weekly at first, in January it went up to three issues a week.

In the lobby, a comic montage shows the paper's patron and co-owner, Alexander Lebedev - who since January is also proprietor of London's Evening Standard - with Putin, shown busy reading Novaya Gazeta.

A semi-opposition figure, Lebedev in 2006 bought a 39 per cent stake in Novaya, with Mikhail Gorbachev, the former Soviet leader, holding 10 per cent and staff having the rest.

Muratov and other journalists at the paper describe Lebedev as an enlightened, hands-off owner. If he doesn't like the editorial line, he writes an owner's column, they say.

However, Lebedev's purchase of the Evening Standard has led some to wonder why a former KGB spy should want to become a British newspaper owner.

And the British satirical magazine Private Eye has questioned whether his relationship with the Kremlin is really as chilly as he makes out.

Novaya journalists say Lebedev isn't an outspoken critic of Putin and for many years tried to co-operate with the Russian leadership.

"Lebedev isn't Garry Kasparov [the former world chess champion and opposition leader]," Lipsky says.

"He's a different mixture. But there is no reason for you Brits to feel discomfort. He hasn't been a spy for a long time."

Either way, Novaya Gazeta is the real thing. Several of its star writers now have bodyguards. How do its journalists cope? "It's terrible when a colleague gets killed," Lipsky says.

"It's monstrous. But there is a feeling that we need to do what we are doing. This gets stronger. You can't do this work for a long time unless you have strong motivation.

"With Anna [Politkovskaya], there was total correspondence between her profession and her life."

Novaya Gazeta's investigations include those into the murders of its own staff. The paper is carrying its own probe into Politkovskaya's murder - by a professional killer wearing a baseball cap in the stairwell of her Moscow flat - and last month published new details of CCTV footage taken outside the flat before her assassination.

Also last month, a jury acquitted four people accused of involvement in Politkovskaya's death: two Chechen brothers, a former Moscow policeman, and a serving colonel with the FSB.

All have links with Russia's security services, which monitored her flat in the days before she was killed.

Politkovskaya's friends describe the trial as a "farce" and are scathing of the official investigation.

Muratov, meanwhile, has refused to say who he thinks arranged Politkovskaya's death - amid suspicions that the person is a top figure in Russian politics.

Visitors leaving the newspaper's offices pass a cabinet of memorabilia: Politkovskaya's computer, some of her books, a Christmas card from Bill Clinton and a tome on Japanese martial arts that belonged to Baburova.

The young journalist never had a chance to use it before her killer shot her in the head.

ROLL CALL

* Anna Politkovskaya
Special correspondent, shot dead
* Yuri Shchekochikhin
Deputy editor, mysteriously poisoned.
* Igor Domnikov
Reporter, bludgeoned to death
* Anastasia Baburova
Freelancer, killed by armed assailant
* Stanislav Markelov
Lawyer, shot dead

- OBSERVER