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| Caucasus |
| Internet journalist who developed anti-Chechen site killed |
| 2003-01-18 |
| RFE/RL 13 January 2003 Vladimir Sukhomlin, a 23-year-old software developer and Internet journalist, was abducted and brutally killed in Moscow on 4 January, "The Moscow Times" and other Russian news agencies reported on 13 January. According to the reports, Sukhomlin was on his way to meet a potential client when his car was stopped by two police officers and he was forced into a waiting Lada passenger car. Two police officers from the Moscow Oblast town of Balashikha, who were identified only as Goncharov and Vorotnikov, were arrested on 9 January, according to "Izvestiya" on 13 January, and they reportedly told police they had been paid $1,150 to kill Sukhomlin. Uhuh. I wonder by whom? On 10 January, police arrested Dmitrii Ivanchev, the director of the St. Petersburg-based company Plastorg, lenta.ru reported on 13 January. According to "Izvestiya," the police officers named Ivanchev as the man who hired them. Sukhomlin created the website chechnya.ru, which was designed to counter the pro-separatist site kavkaz.org. According to a colleague quoted in "The Moscow Times," Sukhomlin was also developing software for the Defense Ministry. So now they've got to find out who hired Ivanchev. Was it Maskhadov? Zakayev? Bashayev? Did the money originate with Vanessa? |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |
| #1 That's the problem with Russians. If only they stopped being corruptible for one second they would realize they could have a much easier time of it in Chechnya. I don't blame the conscripts for not having the heart in the battle when they see their commanders being payed off, by their enemy no less. |
| Posted by: Rw 2003-01-18 14:05:46 |