Russian Reporter Dies In 5-Story Fall

Suicide Or Murder? Newspaper Correspondent Was Disliked By The Government

(AP)  A military correspondent for Russia's top business daily has died after falling out of a window, and some media alleged Monday that he might have been killed for his critical reporting.

Ivan Safronov, the military affairs writer for Kommersant, died Friday after falling from a fifth-story window in the stairwell of his apartment building in Moscow, officials said. His body was found by neighbors shortly after the fall.

With prosecutors investigating the death, Kommersant and some other media suggested foul play.

"The suicide theory has become dominant in the investigation, but all those who knew Ivan Safronov categorically reject it," Kommersant said in an article Monday.

Safronov's colleagues and relatives have described him as a strong, cheerful person who would be extremely unlikely to kill himself.

The Moscow city prosecutor's office did not respond to repeated calls for comment about the investigation into his death, and neighborhood prosecutors could not immediately be reached.

In a report that may have been aimed to quash speculation of foul play, the ITAR-Tass news agency quoted an unidentified law enforcement source as saying investigators had "not even any minimal information" pointing to the possibility of murder.

Safronov, who had served as a colonel in the Russian Space Forces before joining Kommersant in 1997, frequently angered the authorities with his critical reporting. He was repeatedly questioned by the Federal Security Service, the main KGB successor, which suspected him of divulging state secrets.

No charges were filed because Safronov was able to prove his reports were based on open sources, Kommersant said.

In December, Safronov angered the authorities when he was the first to report the third consecutive launch failure of the new Bulava intercontinental ballistic missile, which President Vladimir Putin hailed as a basis of the nation's nuclear might for years to come. The authorities never acknowledged the launch failure.

"For some reason, it is those journalists who are disliked by the authorities who die in this country," the daily Moskovsky Komsomolets said Monday. "Ivan Safronov was one of those. He knew a lot about the real situation in the army and the defense industries and he reported it."

Russia is among the most dangerous countries for journalists; it's plagued by attacks on reporters who seek to expose official corruption and other abuses. The problem was highlighted by the October killing of Anna Politkovskaya, an investigative reporter and a harsh critic of human rights abuses in Chechnya.

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said in January that 13 Russian journalists have been murdered in contract-style killings since 2006, making Russia the third-deadliest country for journalists after Iraq and Algeria in the past 15 years.

[rafterman1]

Hmmm. Funny how Russians critical of the government have ended up dead recently.

[thenamesdave]

Come on, Pootie, getting a little obvious now, aren't we?

[zootallures2]

Russia is #1 in assassinations, organized crime, and kiddie porn. At least Bush hasn't pulled a little boy's shirt up and kissed his belly...yet...

[hawksprings]

This story kind of reminds me of a website called, "The Clinton Body Count."

...

[rray52]

I wonder if we could get a group of Reports from the US to go over and lobby Pootie for a %u201CPress Shield Law%u201D
They may want to get hotel rooms on the first floor.

[musty2u]

Maybe our own journalists should watch their backs. Seems like thar's danger in thar.

[bogusbones]

Back in the USSR. Looks like Vladimir learned his lessons well and studies Stalin very closely. I'm so happy Mr. Bush has such a great ability to evaluate people.

[jn122736]

It is dangerous for Democratic congressmen to fly in small private jets (Mel carnahan, Paul Wellstone)
Of course that was clintons fault too.

[lvsigns]

Of course! Russian reporters are allways in danger, they don't have the protections that a free press gives Americans, there's noting we can do about it, It's their problem,Well so much for how smart the Russians are. But don't try to tell them, they won't understand. I'll bet he couldn't own a gun either, in other words, he was sitting duck, glad i'm not a Russian citizen.

[Renegade.Rivers]

%u201CA free press can of course be good or bad, but, most certainly, without freedom it will never be anything but bad. . . . Freedom is nothing else but a chance to be better, whereas enslavement is a certainty of the worse.%u201D

Albert Camus quotes (French Novelist, Essayist and Playwright, 1957 Nobel Prize for Literature, 1913-1960)

[nufsedtc5]

I don't understand why Russia can not learn from the U.S. It doesn't matter how much information and proof the media has. Simply lie, deny and suto-rebuttal.

[nufsedtc5]

Russians government needs to have it's own Fox News.

[tbweb]

I'll say one thing, the Russians are good at getting rid of people and making it look like an accident! Cold War written all over it!!!

[thgdriver]

Hmmmmmmmmmmm, Russian reporter falls out of window as he digs for truth, Who is surprised? Whitewater, savings and loan scandals, lots o bodies to be found on both sides. Hey Hillary, remember Vince Foster?

[karlimhof]

The wave of russian journalists deaths is very suspicious - Putin has already absolute backing from the russian people, something like 70%.

He doesn't need to kill anyone.

Boris Berezovsky, Leonid Nevzlin, who is also wanted in Russia for conspiracy to murder; Nevzlin lives in Israel now and Berezovsky in London.

These guys call openly for Putins downfall and some think they are behind this rash of murders aimed at putting the blame on Putin. Like the other russian poisoned in London by a radioactive substance.

There's the idea that these russian exiles with unlimited money are trying to get back to Russia, a Russia without Putin but someone friendlier to them.

[rudy654-2009]

This Putin must be a very evil man. Something dark and sinister is happening in Russia. I wonder where it will all lead? Of course, Putin will eventually fall victim to his own evil plots. It will come back to bite him.

[azman80]

Someone died in Russia? Well if it wasnt cancer or a heart attack, it was murder. My opinion. Russians are hardcore, if they dont like you, you are as gone as the wind.

[tbweb]

--karlimhof

Russia has over 88 negative incidents with journalists. If this recent incident stood by itself, your analysis would be good, but history is not on its side!