All murders are cause for anger and bereavement; but when a fellow investigative journalist is murdered it comes closer to home. Not only did I work in Moscow as a journalist, almost all of my writing career has been in book-length investigative journalism in the criminal justice field, where you make many enemies; you live with that knowledge and its potential consequences every day.
Paul Klebinikov, an American journalist best known for his book, The Godfather of the Kremlin, a less than flattering biography of the Russian tycoon, Boris Berezovsky, was murdered Friday evening in the streets of Moscow. He was the editor of the new Forbes Russia magazine; he had been with Forbes for almost 15 years. It is said that he was working on another expose of another one of the Russian "robber barons" that filled the law & order vacuum after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Below are two pieces. The first is a statement by Steve Forbes to all employees of Forbes. Then there is a news article from The Telegraph, which includes an interview with Mr. Berezovsky detailing his reaction to the murder of his long time nemesis:
Paul became the first editor of Forbes Russia at the magazine's launch in April 2004. Forbes Russia is a joint venture with Axel Springer.
Paul joined Forbes in 1989 and rose to the position of senior editor at the magazine, specializing in Russian and Eastern European politics and economics, before assuming editorship of Forbes Russia.
Paul was the author of Godfather of the Kremlin (September 2000), a biography of Boris Berezovsky, a Russian tycoon.
Paul embraced the opportunity to become the first editor of Forbes Russia. He knew Russia well. It was a country he loved deeply.
Paul was a superb reporter--courageous, energetic, ever-curious. I eagerly anticipated reading his stories. The information was always fresh, insightful, fascinating. He exemplified the finest traditions of our profession and served his readers well.
All of us at Forbes are devastated by what has happened and send our condolences and prayers to his wife and family.
Boris Berezovsky, the British-based Russian oligarch, last night described the United States journalist shot dead in Moscow on Friday as being "like a bull in a china shop" in the way he reported on Russia's business elite.
Paul Klebnikov, editor of the newly launched Russian edition of Forbes magazine, wrote a controversial book on Berezovsky's rise to riches. The oligarch described Mr Klebnikov, 41, as "not an honest journalist," but said he would nonetheless miss him.
Mr Klebnikov had earned a reputation for relentless investigative reporting. He was said by leading figures in Russia's publishing industry to have been working on a follow-up to Godfather of the Kremlin, his book on Mr Berezovsky, when he flew to Moscow last week.
It was not clear whether the new book also centred on Mr Berezovsky, or on other aspects of Russia's business world.
The journalist was gunned down in the street near the office of Forbes, which stirred anger recently by publishing a list of Russia's "super-rich".
Godfather of the Kremlin described how the businessman made his fortune from the privatisation of former state assets.
Mr Berezovsky, who was granted political asylum in Britain, spent six and a half years in a legal battle with Mr Klebnikov over a profile he wrote about him. The article, in Forbes magazine in 1996, alleged that Mr Berezovsky was behind the killing of another Russian media mogul - a claim the magazine was forced to retract.
Mr Klebnikov "was a part of my life", Mr Berezovsky said. "He taught me that that even leading Western media lie."
He added: "In Russia, if you publish a list of the country's richest people it's like informing on them to the prosecutors. Somebody clearly did not like the way he operated and decided to sort it out with him, Russian-style, not through the English courts as I did."
He said he had no idea who was behind the shooting - and had been "totally unaware" of Mr Klebnikov's latest work.
