Radio Appearance

I was interviewed about murder and death in Russia on My Technology Lawyer, a radio show hosted by Andrew Kreig and Scott Draughton.

Bill Browder, Russia, and More in the Annals of Personal and Corporate Safety

We've discussed the failure to identify and prosecute those who ordered and paid for the murders of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, Forbes' Paul Klebnikov and others. But what about that of Valery Kazakov, a Russian man slain on the way to testify against the former mayor of the town of Pushkino?

It's the subtext of a piece by Megan Stack of the L.A. Times, whose reporting suggests a couple of principal reasons why such cases don't get solved. One of course is official corruption. But another is that, even when cases have moved through the system in reasonably good order, Russians are hesitant to testify for reasons of personal safety. There's effective impunity not just for killers, but for those who murder witnesses intending to testify against the low-ranking triggermen who typically take the hit for everyone up the food chain.

That's one stubborn reality about Russia. Of a different order are the foreign firms and companies -- lawyers, bankers, investors -- who get fleeced, their local employees jailed, then indignantly scream for justice as though not pre-warned.

Over the last several days, this victim's slot has been filled by American Bill Browder, the once high-flying defender of investment in Russia as head of a $4 billion Russian fund called Hermitage Capital Management. In 2005, Russia effectively expelled the 45-year-old Browder, whose grandfather Earl headed the U.S. Communist Party in the 1930s and early 1940s, and since then he has had to run his fund from a distance in London.

As my colleagues at Business Week and others are writing, Browder now has hired former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft to run an unusual case stemming from a subsequent assault on Hermitage in which a couple of subsidiaries were seized. It's a tax fraud and money-laundering case against a group of officials who he says conspired to defraud the Russian government of $230 million.

(Yawn)

We've seen this movie before. For instance, BP keeps returning for more despite its own experience with the rough-and-tumble Russian system.

To his credit, Browder's stratagem at least in part is meant to free one of his Moscow lawyers, Sergei Magnitsky, who was jailed after filing a court statement alleging official corruption in the seizure of the subsidiaries.

Yet BP and Browder stuck around because of the money -- in BP's case, despite it all Russia remains one of its main profit centers. As for outsiders, there's the entertainment value of gaping at the road wreck.

The Murder of Paul Klebnikov, and a Tormented Juror

Ellen Barry of The New York Times weighs in today with an interesting five-year anniversary story on the assassination of Forbes correspondent Paul Klebnikov, the New York native who was shot in the back as he walked to the Metro across the street from his office. The angle is an interview with Alexei Rybin, a juror in the 2006 trial that acquitted three suspects. Rybin is tormented because he believes that guilty men went free.

The trial itself seemed destined not to produce an objectively reached verdict. In one passage, Barry describes jurors watching from a window "as a witness fled the courthouse pursued by five men in masks, then was tackled, handcuffed and put in the back of a van."

The piece describes the multiple forces that confound justice. Yes, Russia is still unaccustomed to the jury system, and politics infuses and interferes with jurisprudence. In addition, there is much speculation that the jury was tampered with -- for instance, neighbors of the jurors whispered in their ears that the men were innocent, and they apparently listened.

With President Barack Obama in Moscow last week, the Russians agreed to a joint investigation with U.S. detectives in the case. Yet, a little over a week earlier, Petros Garibyan, the highly skilled investigator of the murders of both Klebnikov and journalist Anna Politkovskaya, wrote a letter telling Klebnikov's lawyers that their probe was over. At the New Yorker, Keith Gessen writes about the problems with both the Klebnikov and Politkovskaya trials.

As we've discussed here previously, as well as in Putin's Labyrinth, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has at minimum enabled the system of unpunished murder, and President Dmitry Medvedev isn't willing to challenge him on it.

Labyrinth Out in Paperback

The updated version of Putin's Labyrinth is out today. It brings events in Russia up to date, including the collapse of the economic miracle with the plunge in oil prices and the global financial crisis, and the January natural gas stand-off with Ukraine. This version is also indexed. Your comments are welcomed.

Medvedev's Signal: Don't Kill Novaya Gazeta Reporters

Dmitry Medvedev has noted in the past that Russians tend to look for signals from their leaders. But, since the Russian president doesn't come from the siloviki -- he is a former law professor, not a retired KGB or military officer -- nor from politics, he is not as noted as his predecessors for skillfully communicating through gesture.

So what was today all about? Why did Medvedev give Novaya Gazeta editor Dmitry Muratov bragging rights for publishing his first Russian newspaper interview (English version)?

My own thinking is that Medvedev is right -- to some degree, ruling in Russia is about signals, often informing a power group or an individual to watch its or his step. And one signal that's been clear over the last several years is that certain murders can take place with impunity -- killers somehow have correctly understood that they will not be held to account.

Novaya Gazeta, long the fiercest critic of Vladimir Putin's rule, wears its bloody past on its sleeve. To this day, the home page of its English-language web site is a full-page tribute to its fallen. They include Igor Domnikov, killed in 2000, Yuri Shchekochikhin, who died in 2003 from a mysterious illness, and, most dramatically, Anna Politkovskaya, slain in 2006.

There had been something of an interregnum since the November 2006 nuclear poisoning murder of Alexander Litvinenko. But in January, that apparent intermission ended. Human rights lawyer Stanislaw Markelov was shot in the back of the head by a killer on a crowded Moscow street in daylight, along with Anastasia Baburova, a Novaya Gazeta reporter who tried to intervene. Being abroad still doesn't make one safe. Last month, Chechen Sulim Yamadayev was shot dead in Dubai.

Medvedev is saying that he's a break from the past -- at a minimum, he doesn't support the targeting of Muratov's reporters. Indeed, this was Medvedev's second such signal -- he met with Muratov in January to mourn the Markelov-Baburina murders.

It's unclear that Russia's killers will honor the signal, nor whether Medvedev is yet a leader whose signals are generally respected. After all, the system of unpunished murder has seemed larger than even ultra-powerful Putin, who publicly mourned the death of Forbes editor Paul Klebnikov, whose murder nonetheless was never solved.

Yet, the gesture was clear.

A Murder in Russia

Today's murder of Stanislav Markelov is not proof in isolation of anything apart from that Russia continues to be a perilous place for those who challenge officialdom. But given who the lawyer was representing, and the string of high-profile murders in the country, the killing demonstrates yet again the atmosphere of impunity for assassins created by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

Markelov was representing the family of an 18-year-old Chechen girl, Elza Kungayeva, who was brutally raped and murdered by an Army colonel named Yuri Budanov. Budanov's crimes were unforgettably described by writer Anna Politkovskaya, who herself was murdered a little over two years ago in Moscow. In large part because of Politkovskaya's crusading journalism, Budanov finally was imprisoned for 10 years.

In Russia, it's common for prisoners to be released after serving half their term on good behavior, and last Thursday a court let Budanov go.

The 34-year-old Markelov had vigorously opposed Budanov's early release. Today, he did so again in a news conference near the Kremlin in Moscow. Moments later, a man wearing a ski mask shot him dead in broad daylight, using a pistol fitted with a silencer. The killer also murdered Anastasia Baburova, a free-lance journalist for Novaya Gazeta who was accompanying Markelov. The killer then vanished into a subway station.

What sets Russia apart from fellow members of the so-called Group of Eight nations is just such murders, organized and carried out without consequence. If you cross an invisible line in Russia, you are subject to the ultimate sacrifice -- death -- and the chances are whoever ordered it will go unpunished. Politkovskaya is one example. Another whom I researched for Putin's Labyrinth is Paul Klebnikov, the editor of Forbes Russia, who while being a fervent Putin admirer, clearly crossed someone else's line of tolerance, and was murdered in 2004.

Murders occur in all countries, but not with the frequency that they do in Russia, and not with impunity for the organizers.

Murder Experts in Houston

I've been researching and talking about murder for the best of two years now, but only last night encountered what must be the greatest concentration of part-time homicide experts in the United States. The encounter was at Murder By The Book, an incredible independent Houston bookstore whose managers say they are the largest shop in the U.S. specializing in murder thrillers.

Linda Wuest, the head of the Houston World Affairs Council, invited me to the store to talk about Putin's Labyrinth, and there I met wall to wall murder fans. Murder may be grisly, but to this sturdy gang, it's also a hobby.

For the like-minded among you, the managers suggested the following two Russian murder thrillers: Tom Rob Smith's Child 44 and Brent Ghelfi's Volk's Game.

Anything Goes In Russia: What a President Obama or McCain Should Do

John McCain said it best the other day, quoted by The Washington Post's David Broder: "We have to deal with them, negotiate with them, especially in light of their hoard of petrodollars. But we can't sit by and watch a country murder people in England."

McCain was referring to the 2006 murder of KGB defector Alexander Litvinenko. As you recall, someone slipped a nuclear isotope into Litvinenko's tea at a London hotel, and Britain has filed murder charges against another former Russian intelligent agent who's now a member of the country's Parliament. Moscow refuses to extradite the man, whose name is Andrei Lugovoi.

Much is made of Russia's muscular attitude surrounding its oil. As McCain suggested, the rise of oil prices has given Russian leaders Vladimir Putin and Dmitri Medvedev a megaphone abroad -- where the world largely ignored Russia when it was down economically through the 1990s, it now feels almost obligated to give Moscow an ear because of the petro-leverage it exerts, especially in Europe. That the Russians appear again to be pushing a Western oil company out the door -- this time BP -- seems somewhat troubling to the market. But, since other oil companies have had their assets squeezed previously, no one is shocked. It seems more like, Well, there the Russians go again. That reaction is appropriate. But using the leverage of its energy resources for political gain in Europe is another matter.

I am often asked who I think would handle Russia better starting next year -- Obama or McCain. I reply that both would do well. Whether one comes from right of center or left of center, one will reach the same place, which is that Russia is going to pursue interests that are contrary to the West's. That is especially the case in oil.

One thing I learned over again during the last 18 months or so in researching Putin's Labyrinth is that, when Russia pursues its interests, its approach is "anything goes." That is, Russia will go to any length to achieve its aims. That's why, when someone decided to murder Alexander Litvinenko, he or she did not order him pushed off a subway platform or shot with a pistol; it was decided that he would be poisoned with a nuclear isotope.

When the next president is sitting in front of Russian interlocutors, he cannot underestimate Moscow. Because in its view, anything goes.

Labyrinth with The American Entrepreneur

I spoke with Ron Morris -- "The American Entrepreneur." Here is the recording. (Ignore the Moody Blues at the beginning.)

Labyrinth At The Commonwealth Club

I spoke on Putin's Labyrinth at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco. A video was just posted.

The Economist reviews Labyrinth

Labyrinth is reviewed alongside three worthy colleagues by Edward Lucas at the Economist.

Labyrinth At Google

I spoke about Labyrinth yesterday at Google headquarters in Mountain View, Ca.

A Moratorium on Murder?

Russia and Britain are in the latest throes of their dustup over the nuclear assassination of Alexander Litvinenko in central London. The latest chapter is a TV report detailing apparent British conclusions that the Russian state -- and not just individuals or rogues -- were responsible for the poisoning. The Russians have demanded an official British "explanation," meaning a refutation, which the British have refused to provide.

What seems lost in all of this noise is a strange quiet elsewhere -- there have been no sensational murders or state-assisted slaughter involving Russia in well over a year, since Litvinenko's slaying in November 2006.

Even if one counts the mysterious death of journalist Ivan Safronov in March 2007, when he fell five floors from his apartment building, it is still a relatively long time.

Vladimir Putin and his successor Dmitri Medvedev have put up an impassive face toward international outrage toward the string of murders and deaths during Putin's time in power. Earlier this week, Medvedev is said to have rejected British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's face-to-face renewal of Britain's request for the extradition of Andrei Lugovoi, whom Britain has charged with Litvinenko's murder.

Yet, one wonders whether the persistent global opprobrium cast on Russia and the Kremlin has had some impact.

Yet it's one matter to call an effective moratorium on murder. It's another to have decisive judicial action on prior cases. Wednesday was the fourth anniversary of the murder of Paul Klebnikov, the crusading editor of Forbes Russia, who was gunned down near his office as he walked to the Metro. His family marked the date by insisting that the Russians find and try Klebnikov's assailants.

Britain's Brown said that he told Medvedev at the G-8 summit in Japan that the U.K. will not drop the Litvinenko case. Murder carried out in the U.K. must be adjudicated. So far, it's not clear that the Russians get that point.

Photo: lilibethjanuary
Rights: Creative Commons

Food, Energy, Global Warming. But What About Murder?

Oil and food prices are going through the roof, and the world isn't getting any cooler, so it's appropriate that these topics dominate the talk among the leaders of the world's main economies meeting in Japan right now. But British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has another issue on his mind, and that's murder.

Marina Litvinenko says she's received word that, when Brown meets with Russian leader Dmitri Medvedev, he'll probably bring up the 2006 murder of her husband, KGB defector Alexander Litvinenko, who was poisoned with polonium-210, a rare nuclear isotope. Britain has charged a member of the Russian Duma, Andrei Lugovoi, with murder, and has so far unsuccessfully sought his extradition for trial.

It seems highly unlikely that Medvedev will reverse the position taken by his predecessor, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who says the British failed to provide sufficient evidence backing up the charges, and that furthermore Russia's constitution bars extradition of its citizens.

Though his style seems more accommodating than Putin's, and Medvedev says he's willing to compromise on disputes with Britain if Gordon will, too, Medvedev hasn't shifted away from any of Putin's main policies.

Yet one wonders whether, in this case, he's prepared to embrace one of his predecessor's main personal idiosyncracies, which has been a strange willingness to be seen as a killer, or a harborer of them.

The answer will help inform the G-8 leaders -- and the next American president – how to deal with oil-rich Russia as it likely grows stronger in the years ahead.

At issue is a series of unsolved murders that weigh over Putin's eight-year rule. Together, they have revealed Putin to be the latest in a long line of Russian dictators whose common thread is an indifference toward the lives of their people.

Putin wishes Russia to be regarded as a rightful member of G-8, the group of industrialized nations that includes the United States, western Europe and Japan. But the Kremlin's record of behavior toward its citizens – an attitude of bespredel, or anything goes, in perceived defense of the state – sets Russia apart from the group's other members. Only in Russia is there a line that, when crossed, can subject its violator to murder, while leaving the culprit unpunished and free to kill again.

Earlier this month, Medvedev told a Berlin audience that Russia would prosecute "to the end" all cases of slain journalists, who make up many of the most high-profile victims. One hopes he was sincere, but skepticism is warranted since Putin promised similarly yet did not deliver.

One of the cases is that of New York-born Paul Klebnikov, the 43-year-old editor of Forbes magazine's Russia edition. Klebnikov, a descendant of Czarist-era Russian nobility, was best known for a ground-breaking investigation of billionaire Boris Berezovsky. But in 2004, gunmen killed him outside his Moscow office.

Police used telephone records to quickly identify two suspects. The defendants, Chechens named Kazbek Dukuzov and Musa Vakhaev, were acquitted in May 2006, but then re-charged, which is permitted under Russia's justice system. Whatever queasiness a westerner might have with double jeopardy, at that point senior Russian officials seemed to be watching. But since then the case has languished. Crucially, police say they can't find Dukuzov to try him again.

In recent weeks, equally troubling news emerged in the murder of Anna Politkovskaya, an internationally known investigative reporter who was shot execution-style in 2006 in her Moscow apartment building. Prosecutors charged three men, but said nothing about the actual alleged killer, Rustam Makhmudov, a brother of two of the defendants. And, as in Klebnikov's case, the identity of the mastermind remains a public mystery.

Doubts about the official investigations in the Klebnikov and Politkovskaya cases don't start at the precinct level – the police work in both seemed first-rate. But there are suspicions of political interference. Some of the skepticism was fueled by Putin, who famously remarked after the Politkovskaya slaying that it was a pity but that her "influence on the country's political life . . . was minimal."

The most notorious murder is that of Litvinenko. The United Kingdom charged Andrei Lugovoi, a former Russian intelligence agent, and sought his extradition from Russia. Putin could have acquitted himself and Russia as a whole by cooperating with Britain. Instead, he rejected the request, and last December, Lugovoi won election to the Duma, thereby gaining immunity from prosecution within Russia while a wanted man in Europe. (Lugovoi denies the charge, and blames British intelligence for the murder.)

There's no evidence that Putin ordered, or even knew in advance about, any of the killings. Yet opinion hardened abroad that he was at the least complicit for creating the atmosphere of impunity for killers in his country. That he seemed unmoved to counter this menacing impression was perhaps intentional -- he may wish to send the message, Don't mess with Russia. But if that is the aim, it is not a formula for the serious relations that Russia claims to seek with the rest of the world.

Putin's authority seems to remain key in Russia. Yet, as Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama formulate their foreign policies, Medvedev's own attitude toward death should be a pivotal consideration. Whether he genuinely prosecutes killers, or continues the policy of bespredel, will speak volumes on whether to embrace Russia, or treat it from a distance.

Photo: World Economic Forum
Rights: Creative Commons

Latest Labyrinth Review

The venerable Registan.net has reviewed Putin's Labyrinth.

Labyrinth Excerpt

Business Week is running an excerpt of Labyrinth next week. Here is the link to it on the web site, where it went up last night.

Politkovskaya: Arrests and Apprehension

The Kremlin used the occasion of a planned Moscow commemoration for slain journalist Anna Politkovskaya to announce the arrest of ten suspects. All are accused of a role in the hit team – which included former and current members of the Interior Ministry and an officer in the FSB, the successor agency to the KGB – and none of actually ordering last October’s murder. A memorial ceremony is planned in Moscow on Friday to mark her birthday. She would have turned 49 Thursday.

Interfax quoted Politkovskaya’s boss at Novaya Gazeta, Dmitry Muratov, as finding the results of the investigation "very convincing and professional".

But, while Politkovskaya’s colleagues expressed confidence in the arrests, some also saw the makings of a political dimension to the news, for instance that the government might accuse Putin's political enemy, oligarch Boris Berezovsky, of being the mastermind of the murder. Here is the piece by Politkovskaya's newspaper, Novaya Gazeta, on today's events (it's the newspaper's own rough English translation).

Federal prosecutor Yuri Chaika fed that apprehension by saying that the murder was planned abroad. He also said that Politkovskaya knew the person who ordered her killing, and had met with him. She had met with Berezovsky several times in London.

Here are three reports:

Russia Today
Regnum.ru
bbc

In a televised meeting with President Putin and a followup news conference, Chaika outlined the murder, which occurred as she walked from the elevator of her apartment building. He said it was “carefully planned,” with two surveillance groups watching Politkovskaya. Evidence previously released, based on video from a surveillance camera near her apartment, showed a lone figure – apparently the trigger man – entering the apartment building and then walking out at about the time of the murder.

Chaika identified the leader of the hit team as the ethnic Chechen head of a Moscow crime group specializing in contract murder. Without providing the man’s name, he said the group had organized murders in Russia, Ukraine and Latvia. He said the same hit team may have been involved in the 2004 murder of Forbes Russia editor Paul Klebnikov and the 2006 killing of central bank deputy chief Andrei Kozlov.

An FSB official identified the FSB suspect as Lt. Col. Pavel Ryuguzov. He is the only suspect whose name was released. The arrests were made from Aug. 15 through last Thursday.