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One minute someone is there, and the next they are gone. In Chechnya any encounter with a militiaman can prove fatal. He might be The Cadet. This is a time of shameful depravity in the Army and militia, when everything that should be stamped on is allowed. For the present that applies only in Chechnya, but this state of affairs has the tacit consent of our most senior state leaders. What next?

FROM THE EDITORS

September 24, 2001

We are fairly used to threats of various kinds, from officious fists banged on the table to fussy whispers over the telephone or online, warning us anonymously that it would be “inadvisable” to run a particular piece. We take these in our stride because we have found an antidote. We put any little plots or obscure hints into print, because we want no part in them. Ours is a different profession, and that is the rule we are following now.

In Novaya gazeta, No. 65 we published Anna Politkovskaya’s report “The Disappeared,” a journalistic investigation based on materials from the Prosecutor’s Office and witness statements. It included lines referring to specific officers of the Khanty-Mansiysk Combined Militia Unit, including Sergey Lapin who uses the alias of “The Cadet.” We quote: “A later inquiry established that it was they [that is, The Cadet and a number of other officers] who personally presided over and took part in the torturing of Zelimkhan.” The criminal case against The Cadet has come to a standstill. The local municipal court even released him from his undertaking not to leave Nizhnevartovsk and it is apparently this circumstance that he has decided to take advantage of.

Last week a letter arrived in the electronic mailbox of Novaya gazeta’s investigations department:

There is reliable information that an officer of the Criminal Investigation Department who has served in the Chechen Republic and uses the personal code name (not alias) of “The Cadet,” has received special training from the Federal Security Bureau in sabotage, sniper fire, and also has skills for survival in extreme conditions while conducting combat operations. His current whereabouts are unknown, but there are indications that he is in possession of firearms and has the intention of visiting Moscow. Can you shed any light on why this disgraced member of the Interior Ministry Office might be coming to Moscow?

The e-mail’s subject heading is “The Disappeared,” and the sender is Cadet@email.ru.

We do not intend to check whether this is a malicious joke, a hoax, a serious warning or a threat. That is not the function of journalists. Our duty is simply to inform our readers and the authorities of what we have learned and trust that the law enforcement agencies will take effective action. It is their professional obligation to trace the author of this message and establish his motives for writing to our newspaper.

Meanwhile, we continue to fulfil our obligations by publishing another report from Grozny by Anna Politkovskaya.

[After the appearance of the article of September 10, 2001, threatening letters addressed to Anna Politkovskaya began arriving at the newspaper’s offices.]

THERE WILL BE NO RETRACTION

Novaya gazeta, October 15, 2001

This is the second e-mail message we have received:

Forgive my troubling you, but you have just 10 days to publish a retraction of your article “The Disappeared,” otherwise the militia officer you have hired will be unable to protect you. Yours sincerely, The Cadet.

We immediately sent an inquiry to the Interior Ministry Directorate in Khanty-Mansiysk, where the putative source of these threats works, in order to find out whether the special operations agent code-named “The Cadet” had any connection with them. We still do not exclude the possibility that this whole business is a hoax. At the time of going to press we have received no reply.

Let no one be in any doubt that we will take all necessary measures to protect our colleague.

And incidentally, Novaya gazeta does not respond to ultimatums.

To the Interior Minister of the Russian Federation,