H.E. Dmitri Medvedev
President-elect
The Kremlin
Moscow
Russian Federation
Fax: (011.7.495) 206-6277/ 5173
Your Excellency:
Permit us to congratulate you on your election as president of the Russian Federation, and to hope that you will improve your country’s recent record for respect for human rights, especially for freedom of expression and press freedom.
We are appalled by yesterday@quot;s news of two more murders of journalists in Russia. As you know, Ilyas Shurpayev, a reporter for the state-controlled, Channel One, was strangled and repeatedly stabbed in his Moscow apartment by killers who then set the apartment on fire. Shurpayev had recently moved to Moscow from Dagestan, where later in the day, Gadzhi Abashilov, chief of a state-controlled regional TV company, was assassinated in his car by one or more gunmen who fled the scene immediately. It is not known whether the two killings are related.
Your Excellency, these are the thirteenth and fourteenth undisputed murders of journalists since your predecessor, Vladimir Putin, came to power eight years ago. Still other cases, like last year@quot;s defenestration of Kommersant@quot;s Ivan Safronov, should probably be added to that list. All of them, including the notorious contract killing in 2006 of Anna Politkovskaya of Novaya Gazeta, have gone unpunished.
The Overseas Press Club of America, an independent organization of journalists, has been defending press freedom around the world for nearly seventy years. We urge you to begin your administration by ordering a full and completely transparent investigation into the killings of Shurpayev and Abashilov and to bring the murderers to justice, to demonstrate to your country and to the world that Russia is now determined to protect its journalists and restore media freedom.
Respectfully yours,
Larry Martz
Kevin McDermott
Co-chairmen, Freedom of the Press Committee
cc:
Viktor Zubkov
Prime Minister
Government Offices
2 Krasnopresnenskaya Naberezhnaya
Moscow
Russian Federation
Fax:Â (011.7.495) 206-4622, 205-4219
Sergey Viktorovich Lavrov
Foreign Minister
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Moscow 121200, Russian Federation Fax:(011.7.495) 244-3448
Ambassador Vitaly Churkin
Permanent Representative
Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the United Nations
136 East 67th Street
New York, NY 10021
Fax:Â (212) 628-0252
Aleksey Kirillovich Simonov
President
Glasnost Defense Foundation
4 Zubovskiy Blvd., # 432
Moscow 119021
Russia
Fax:Â (011.7.495) 637-4947
Andrew McChesney
Editor-in-Chief
The Moscow Times
Ul. Polkovaya, 3, build. 1, Moscow 127018, Russia
Fax:Â (011.7. 495) 937-3393, 232-6529
E-mail: mcchesney@imedia.ru
Yuriy Viktorovich Ushakov
Ambassador of Russia to the U.S.A.
Embassy of the Russian Federation
2650 Wisconsin Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20007
Fax:Â (202) 298-5735
Dmitri Peskov
First Deputy Spokesman of the President
   of the Russian Federation
c/o Embassy of the Russian Federation
2650 Wisconsin Avenue, NW
Washington, DCÂ 20007
Fax:Â (202) 298-5735
William J. Burns
U.S. Ambassador to Russia
Embassy of the United States of America
8 Bolshoy Devyatinskiy PereulokMoscow 121099
Russia
Fax:Â (011.7.495) 728-5090
Andrey Vitalyevich Vasilyev
Editor-in-Chief
Kommersant Daily
4 Vrubelya Street
Moscow, Russia
Fax:Â (011.7.495) 943-9728
E-mail: kommersant@kommersant.ruÂ
Konstantin Vadimovich Remchukov
Editor-in-Chief
Nezavisimaya Gazeta
13 Myasnitskaya Street, building.3
Moscow
Russia
Fax:Â (011.7. 495) 981-5434
E-mail: office@ng.ru
Vladimir Konstantinovich Mamontov
Editor-in-Chief
Izvestiya
18 Tverskaya Street, building 1
Moscow 127994
Russia
Fax: (011.7.495) 648-1365
Pavel Nikolayevich Gusev
Editor-in-Chief
Moskovskiy Komsomolets
7 Ulitsa 1905 Goda
Moscow 123995, Russia
Fax:Â (011.7.495) 259-4639
E-mail: berestovenko@mk.ru
Robert Munro
Editor-in-Chief
The St.Petersburg Times
4 Isakiyevskaya square
St.Petersburg 190000
Russia
Tel/fax:Â (011.7.812) 325-6080
E-mail: munro@sptimes.ru Â
Yelizaveta Osetinskaya
Editor-in-Chief, Vedomosti
3 Polkovaya Street, building 1
Moscow 125212, Russia
Fax:Â (011.7.495) 956-0716
E-mail: vedomosti@imedia.ru
Dmitriy Andreyevich Muratov
Editor-in-Chief
Novaya Gazeta
3 Potapovskiy pereulok
Moscow 101990
Russia
Fax:Â (011.7.495) 923-6888
E-mail: gazeta@novayagazeta.ru