Murdered Journalists' Agent: “I Told Her I Really Though Vladimir Putin, The President, Would Kill Her”...

Times Of London Toby Eady As Told To Vanessa Jolly October 15, 2006 03:31 PM

In July, when I last saw Anna Politkovskaya, I told her she had to leave Russia. I told her I really thought Vladimir Putin, the president, would kill her. "I would only leave after Putin's gone," she said, obstinate as ever. "If I am killed, would my children have to pay back my publishing advance?"

Anna's humour, black as it was, never left here despite the constant threats to her life. She had been an investigative journalist with Novaya Gazeta, a paper known for its critique of the Kremlin, since 1999 and had grown accustomed to danger. She focused on the human rights abuses against the civilian population of Chechnya and her trademark jaunty grey hair and glasses became well known in Russia.

READ FULL STORY