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the state institutions, official and semi-official, and was constantly called an enemy, particularly by the puppet government established by Putin in Chechnya. There are only two credible explanations of her murder: either it was committed on the orders of the Russian state authorities, in their central or Chechen hypostases, through the agency of the security services (which is most probable); or it may have been the work of people infected by the nationalist discourse encouraged by the state authorities.

Putin sought legitimacy through the blood of Chechnya, on the basis of which he built his neo-authoritarian regime, and now all the threads of power (executive, judicial, legislative, and also of the economy and mass media) run not only back to the Kremlin, but directly to the President’s Office.

That is the Russia which Putin is building with the aid of oil as a strategic weapon, in order to enforce respect for his enormous country, with the connivance of Western leaders who whitewash all his crimes in exchange for energy supplies …

The cause, which European political figures both of the left and of the right have mentioned to me in private conversation, is quite objective – it is fear of Russia. The Soviet Union was a time bomb which, if it had exploded, could have turned the whole world upside-down. Putin proved capable of bringing order and avoiding chaos.

… But what is more dangerous for the West – the chaos which it is said Putin has succeeded in avoiding, or the authoritarian regime which he has built and which, as the world already knows, has at its disposal oil and weapons of mass destruction?

And here are the results: the execution of inconvenient people for the benefit of the Tsar and the motherland.

… When indifference and fear are instilled, when everything is justified as a part of a struggle against the enemy, when politics, judicial power and money accumulate in the hands of a single person, democracy is weakened and the venal feel strong and free. And when the world flirts, as now, with doctrines of ethnic homogeneity and an apologia of general unitarianism, any deviation is deemed a threat to all. Politkovskaya reminded us of this a million times, and nobody took her seriously. She has died, and Russia is profoundly ailing.

Die Tageszeitung

In an instant it is back again: the image of an unpredictable and incomprehensible Russia. Anna Politkovskaya, an indomitable journalist, has been shot in broad daylight at the entrance to her home. The whole world rubs its eyes in disbelief. What is going on in Russia where it is becoming clear that critically minded journalists are game to be hunted down? Is this country in fact not the bulwark of stability, developing democracy and economic flowering that the Kremlin’s emissaries and the representatives of expensive PR agencies proclaim to the whole world?

CONDOLENCES AND RESPONSES FROM CITIZENS AND OFFICIALS

Novaya gazeta, October 23, 2006

Alu Alkhanov, President of the Chechen Republic

Russian journalism has suffered a great loss. The tragic death of Anna Politkovskaya has not only been a shock for Russian society but a blow to the ongoing democratic processes in Russia, including glasnost, one of the most important achievements of the changes in the country. We did not always agree with Anna Politkovskaya’s point of view regarding the situation in the Chechen Republic, but we all understand that criticism is an important part of life and is a counterbalance to totalitarianism and the fostering of a personality cult at the helm of power. We respected the professionalism of Anna Stepanovna, the civic courage of a journalist, the principled position which she expressed strikingly in her publications. I express my sincere condolences to the relatives, friends and colleagues of Anna Politkovskaya.

Anna, a Student from Moscow

On Sunday, nine days after the murder of Anna Stepanovna, I lit a candle and put the lights out. I had seen her only twice, at meetings, but Anna Politkovskaya suddenly became somebody very close to me.

Artyom, Moscow

I saw