Details are beginning to emerge about the the two suspects held on suspicion of gunning down fearless human rights lawyer Stanislav Markelov and Novaya Gazeta intern Anastasia Baburova on January 19th this year.  It appears that one of the pair, both of whom are suspected of being members of an untranationalist organization, has confessed to the crime.  Whilst we are often lamenting the lack of justice in relation to the astounding number of slayings of journalists and activists which remain unsolved (indeed in some cases, unremarked upon by the Kremlin), many rights advocates are wary of jumping to the conclusion that what we are seeing today represents a breakthrough in transparency and justice-seeking. ...

The typical reactions have started to roll in from the international community in response to Natalia Estemirova's murder, and it's hard not to sense the thick surreality of these calls for justice, investigations, and expectations that the authorities will take any real law-and-order steps toward holding someone accountable for the slaying.  Apparently, the news of the murder didn't even make the front page of Russia's four largest newspapers, yet we are stubbornly unwilling to recognize how the system claimed another life.Such calls might have made sense way back when Paul Klebnikov and Anna Politkovskaya first fell victim, but they seem just short of delusional given the legal drift in recent years.  The second show trial of Mikhail Khodorkovsky is fully underway, Klebnikov's family had to pressure the state to resume the five-year-old investigation, while Anna's trial is kicked back and forth over the ...

TODAY: Obama says trade comes with rule of law; criticizes Russia's idea of being neighborly; Russians indifferent to the visit?; 'less than what we wanted' say opposition leaders; Klebnikov case to be reinvestigatedIn Obama's speech to students at the New Economic School, he referred to his 'excellent discussions' with Russia's leaders, but also told Russia, 'the days when empires could treat sovereign states as pieces on a chessboard are over' and that 'state sovereignty must be a cornerstone of international order'.  A move unlikely to prove popular with the Kremlin, as the Guardian suggests: 'Russians bristle at Obama's suggestion that the idea of "spheres of influence" is a 19th-century oddity'.  Why was Georgia not a ...

TODAY: Obama taxes Putin with living in the past; Pepsi's role in Cold War thaw; reserve currency may be discussed at Putin-Obama meeting; is Medvedev really the host?; Chechens suspected in Klebnikov murder on wanted listBarack Obama has verbally chastised Putin for keeping 'one foot in the old ways of doing business and one foot in the new'.  Medvedev hopes for 'intensive and full-fledged talks' with the US President.  Whilst Medvedev may be the official host, an op-ed piece in the Moscow Times argues that Obama needs to engage with Putin to tackle the thorniest issues.  During Obama's visit, a breakfast meeting with the Prime Minister may involve discussions of the reserve currency.  According ...

Different people may hold different opinions about Russia's administration of law and justice.  Given that we are involved in a case featuring a political prisoner undergoing a second show trial, obviously we hold a strongly critical opinion of Russian law enforcement.  But there are many other cases that lead us to believe that this experience is not isolated.Take the case of the murdered Forbes journalist Paul Klebnikov, whose muckraking and uncompromising journalism took a much harder look at the oligarchs and private sector business compared to his relative light touch in writing about the government.  Yet despite the stark differences with, say, Anna Politkovskaya, it is the Kremlin's procuracy which has somehow failed to deliver justice in the case a full five years after the murder.  Next week, July 9th, will mark the fifth anniversary of this tragic event, and ...

It's no mystery that Russian journalists are an endangered species. Beyond the headlines grabbed by the famous cases of Paul Klebnikov and Anna Politkovskaya, there are so many more who are threatened, beaten, harassed, and forced out of work, home, and country all thanks to their unpardonable nature of the work. They write things that powerful people wish to remain secret.

The journalists of modern Russia forced to seek asylum for their own safety is long, including Yelena Tregubova, Yuri Bagrov, Fatima Tlisova, and on and on, many of whom were involved in some manner in reporting on Chechnya.  There are also other very successful journalists, such as Natalia Morari, who are expelled from Russia against their will, and even unknown young interns,

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