Putin praises journalist courage, vows faster probe into assault
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, whose country’s press freedoms are ranked below Zimbabwe and Iraq, praised the “courage” of journalists at an award ceremony that honored their professional holiday.
The premier, who is running for the presidency next year, pledged to speed up an investigation into the near-fatal beating of Mikhail Beketov, a journalist who received a state award today and campaigned against government plans to build a highway to St. Petersburg through the Khimki forest near Moscow.
Putin, 59, embraced Beketov, a recipient of one of 10 government awards for reporters, after the ceremony in central Moscow and said he will instruct investigative committee chief Alexander Bastrykin to expedite a probe into the 2008 assault.
The U.S. and Europe have criticized Russia for rolling back press freedoms during Putin’s 2000-2008 tenure as president, when he worked to centralize power and increase state ownership of mass media and the country’s biggest companies. Russia was ranked 140th among 178 countries in a 2010 Press Freedom Index by Reporters Without Borders, a monitoring group based in Paris.
Beketov, editor of a newspaper in the Moscow suburb of Khimki, had a leg amputated and lost his ability to speak as a result of the assault, which also left him confined to a wheelchair. Beketov’s lawyer complained to Putin that an investigation is proceeding too slowly.
Assaults, MurdersThe attack on Beketov was one of many assaults and murders of journalists in Russia in recent years, most of which remain unsolved. The 2004 murder of Paul Klebnikov, the U.S. editor of Forbes Inc.#146;s Russian edition, and the 2006 killing of opposition journalist Anna Politkovskaya were among the highest- profile cases.
Khadzhimurad Kamalov, editor of a newspaper critical of the authorities in the southern Russian region of Dagestan, was shot dead last month.
Beketov#146;s car was set on fire six months before the attack on Nov. 13, 2008, after which he accused local officials of trying to intimidate him. A Putin-backed plan to build a toll road between Russia#146;s two biggest cities via a forest has been under fire from environmental activists who say the project will damage the Khimki forest.
#147;I was told this situation allegedly had something to do with the Khimki forest?#148; Putin asked Beketov today. His campaign against corruption hurt the interests of many people in Khimki, Stalina Gurevich, Beketov#146;s lawyer, said in an interview.
A 1 million-ruble ($32,000) state award will help Beketov#146;s recovery, said Yelena Kostyuchenko, a member of a fundraising campaign in his support.
Other reporters honored today include Vladimir Gurbolikov, who is a journalist at Foma, an independent Christian Orthodox magazine, and television critic Irina Petrovskaya.