In praise of … Novaya Gazeta

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jun/14/in-praise-of-novaya-gazeta

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Alexander Bastrykin, Russia's chief federal investigator, was angry about an article in Novaya Gazeta alleging corruption in a murder trial. It made him and his colleagues look, he said, "like the mafia". Whether or not he had legitimate cause for complaint, he then took a course of action, according to the paper, which made that label appear entirely justified. The paper says he drove the deputy editor to a forest near Moscow, threatened his life, and joked that he himself would then lead the inquiry into the journalist's death. Bastrykin has denied this story, and there is a hint, in the outraged reaction of Dmitry Muratov, the paper's editor-in-chief, that he does not take this threat absolutely at face value. He addresses Bastrykin using a familiar form of speech, and also speaks of remarks made "in the heat of the moment". Nevertheless he demands guarantees of his staff's safety. Who knows when talking the talk might segue into walking the walk?