DEATHS OF JOURNALISTS IN RUSSIA
This database includes the violent, premature or unexplained deaths of journalists in Russia recorded by the country’s own media monitors since the early 1990s. Each entry (click on View in last column of Search Results) offers a narrative account of the journalist’s work and death based mainly on monitoring information gathered in Moscow by the Glasnost Defence Foundation and theCentre for Journalism in Extreme Situations.
Click here to jump to detailed search instructions.
Page 1 of 32, showing 10 records out of 315 total, starting on record 1, ending on 10
| Date | First | Surname | Job | Incident | Federal District + | Motive | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16/12/2013 | Arkady | LANDER | chief editor | homicide | Sochi, Krasnodar Region | ?J | View |
| 12/07/2013 | Akhmednabi | AKHMEDNABIYEV | journalist, deputy editor | homicide | Makhachkala, Republic of Dagestan | J | View |
| 18/05/2013 | Nikolai | POTAPOV | chief | homicide | Bykogorka, Stavropol Region | ?J | View |
| 07/05/2013 | Konstantin | BAUER | journalist | homicide | Lesosibirsk, Krasnoyarsk Region | nJ | View |
| 08/04/2013 | Mikhail | BEKETOV | chief editor | homicide | Khimki, Moscow Region | J | View |
| 05/12/2012 | Kazbek | GEKKIEV | news presenter | homicide | Nalchik, Kabardino-Balkaria | J | View |
| 07/07/2012 | Alexander | KHODZINSKY | journalist | homicide | Tulun, Irkutsk Region | J | View |
| 15/12/2011 | Hadjimurad | KAMALOV | director | homicide | Makhachkala, Dagestan | J | View |
| 28/07/2011 | Garun | KURBANOV | media worker | homicide | Makhachkala, Dagestan | J | View |
| 22/06/2011 | Anatoly | BITKOV | chief editor | homicide | Magadan, Kolyma Region | nJ | View |
Page 2 of 32, showing 10 records out of 315 total, starting on record 11, ending on 20
| Date | First | Surname | Job | Incident | Federal District + | Motive | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 08/05/2011 | Yahya | MAGOMEDOV | chief editor | homicide | Khasavyurt district, Dagestan | nJ | View |
| 05/05/2011 | Pavel | BALAKIREV | cameraman | accident | St Petersburg | J | View |
| 16/01/2011 | Roman | NIKIFOROV | editor | homicide | 1st Ostankino St, Moscow | nJ | View |
| 14/01/2011 | Yekaterina | SILINA | journalist | homicide | Moscow | nJ | View |
| 27/10/2010 | Yevgeny | FEDOTOV | journalist | homicide | Chita, Transbaikal Region | nJ | View |
| 01/10/2010 | Dayan | SHAKIROV | journalist | not confirmed | Yurya settlement, Kirov Region | ?J | View |
| 11/08/2010 | Magomedvagif | SULTANMAGOMEDOV | director | homicide | Makhachkala, Dagestan | ?J | View |
| 01/08/2010 | Malika | BETIEVA | chief editor, deputy | accident | Starye Atagi, Chechnya | nJ | View |
| 25/07/2010 | Bella | KSALOVA | journalist | accident | Cherkessk, Karachaevo-Cherkessia | nJ | View |
| 25/06/2010 | Dmitry | OKKERT | journalist | homicide | Moscow city centre | nJ | View |
Page 3 of 32, showing 10 records out of 315 total, starting on record 21, ending on 30
| Date | First | Surname | Job | Incident | Federal District + | Motive | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13/05/2010 | Said | IBRAGIMOV | director | terrorist act | Sergokalinsky district, Dagestan | J | View |
| 05/05/2010 | Shamil | ALIYEV | director | homicide | Makhachkala, Dagestan | ?J | View |
| 18/03/2010 | Maxim | ZUYEV | journalist | homicide | Kaliningrad | nJ | View |
| 23/02/2010 | Ivan | STEPANOV | journalist | homicide | Khilok, Transbaikal Region | nJ | View |
| 20/01/2010 | Konstantin | POPOV | journalist | homicide | Tomsk | nJ | View |
| 16/11/2009 | Olga | KOTOVSKAYA | director | not confirmed | Kaliningrad | ?J | View |
| 25/10/2009 | Maksharip | AUSHEV | director | homicide | Nalchik, Kabardino-Balkaria | ?J | View |
| 11/08/2009 | Malik | AKHMEDILOV | chief editor | homicide | Makhachkala, Dagestan | ?J | View |
| 15/07/2009 | Natalya | ESTEMIROVA | journalist | homicide | Gazi-Yurt, Ingushetia | J | View |
| 04/07/2009 | Natalya | OSTANINA | journalist | accident | River Ob, Yamalo-Nenets Region | J | View |
Page 4 of 32, showing 10 records out of 315 total, starting on record 31, ending on 40
| Date | First | Surname | Job | Incident | Federal District + | Motive | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 04/07/2009 | Nelya | LONGORTOVA | journalist | accident | River Ob, Yamalo-Nenets Region | J | View |
| 04/07/2009 | Victor | KURTYAMOV | cameraman | accident | River Ob, Yamalo-Nenets Region | J | View |
| 29/06/2009 | Vyacheslav | YAROSHENKO | chief editor | not confirmed | Rostov-on-Don | ?J | View |
| 30/03/2009 | Sergei | PROTAZANOV | media worker, layout artist | not confirmed | Khimki, Moscow Region | nJ | View |
| 19/01/2009 | Anastasia | BABUROVA | journalist | homicide | Prechistenka St, Moscow | J | View |
| 04/01/2009 | Vladislav | ZAKHARCHUK | media worker, manager | not confirmed | Vladivostok, Primorsky Region | ?J | View |
| 04/01/2009 | Shafig | AMRAKHOV | chief editor | homicide | Murmansk | nJ | View |
| 02/09/2008 | Telman | ALISHAYEV | journalist | homicide | Makhachkala, Dagestan | J | View |
| 31/08/2008 | Magomed | YEVLOYEV | chief editor | homicide | Nazran, Ingushetia | J | View |
| 22/08/2008 | Yury | GUSELNIKOV | journalist | missing | Altai Republic | nJ | View |
In June 2009, the International Federation of Journalists, which sponsored the creation of this database, published a report entitled Partial Justice: An investigation into the deaths of journalists in Russia, 1993-2009. It is easier to use this database, and to follow the report, if the two sources are consulted together.
This online database has been specially designed to permit quick comparative searches by several criteria at once: for example, the nature of the incident (Incident), the region (Federal District+) where the incident occurred, subsequent actions by the authorities (Impunity), and an assessment of the link between the death and the individual’s activities as a journalist (Motive).
1. Searching For An Individual
If you know who you are looking for, type their surname into the Surname box in SEARCH CRITERIA and press Search. Then in the last Actions column of SEARCH RESULTS (above) select View and press Enter.
When you wish to return to the list of the latest deaths, press Search again.
2. Complex Search and Analysis
To identify wider groups of journalists by a variety of criteria (location, type of death, reason for death, job):
- Select from one or all of the five drop-down lists in SEARCH CRITERIA (Incident, Federal District +, Job, Motive, Impunity), and
- type in, Year of death and M or F in Sex field in order to see how many men and women have died or disappeared under what circumstances.
Once you have made your selection, click on Search. When you wish to return to the full list of the latest deaths, press Search again.
3. Reversing sequence of years
You can start with the earliest years of these records by clicking on the column heading for Date of Death in SEARCH RESULTS. This reverses the chronological sequence.
MOTIVE
The key entry Motive offers an assessment as to whether a particular death was certainly, possibly or probably not linked to the investigations and publications of the journalist in question. If the link is certain this is indicated as J. If it was not linked, this is indicated as nJ. In cases where there is a possibility of a link, but the death has not been officially investigated or that investigation leaves doubts as to the motive, then the death is indicated as ?J.
If the link is considered certain this is indicated as J. If no link is suggested or established this is indicated as nJ. “In cases where there is a possibility of a link but the death has not been officially investigated, or that investigation leaves doubts as to the motive, then the death is indicated as ?J.
By definition, cases where the are given a provisional assessment of nJ or ? when the cause of death is not confirmed (or disputed); the same applies to almost all the cases of missing journalists. Naturally, as investigations proceed and court hearings are held the assessment of motive may be revised.
