Paul Klebnikov

Paul Klebnikov    (journalist, historian, editor)
Born	1963-06-03 New York, USA
Died	July 9, 2004 (Age 41) Moscow, Russia
Alma mater	St. Bernard's School, Phillips Exeter Academy, University of California Berkeley, London School of Economics
Children	• Alexander • Gregory • Sophia
Spouse	Helen "Musa" Train
Victim of	assassination
Interests	• Russian oligarchs • Russian deep state • Boris Berezovsky
US journalist who was shot dead for his reporting in Russia.

Paul Klebnikov was an American journalist, editor of Forbes Russia and scholar of Russian history. He was shot dead some time after publishing a book about Russian oligarchs, in particular Boris Berezovsky.

Publications

In 1996, he wrote a cover story for Forbes titled "Godfather of the Kremlin?" with the kicker:

"Power. Politics. Murder. Boris Berezovsky could teach the guys in Sicily a thing or two.",

comparing Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky to the Sicilian mafia. The article was published without a byline, but was widely known to be Klebnikov's work. Klebnikov soon received death threats, and took a break from reporting in Russia to live with his family in Paris.

The first edition had Berezovsky on the cover. Later editions changed that and the subtitle to: 'The Decline of Russia in the Age of Gangster Capitalism'

Berezovsky subsequently sued Forbes for libel in a British court. Because the story had been published in an American magazine about a Russian citizen, the choice of venue was described by several authorities as libel tourism. Berezovsky won a partial retraction of the story in 2003.

Meanwhile, Klebnikov expanded the article into the 2000 book: Godfather of the Kremlin: Boris Berezovsky and the Looting of Russia. Believed to be based heavily on interviews with Alexander Korzhakov, the head of security for former president Boris Yeltsin, the book described the privatization process used by Yeltsin as "the robbery of the century" and detailed the alleged corruption of various Russian businesspeople, particularly focusing on Berezovsky. The book met with mixed reviews in journalistic circles.

Klebnikov released a second book: Conversation with a Barbarian: Interviews with a Chechen Field Commander on Banditry and Islam, in 2003. The book is a transcript of a lengthy interview with Chechen rebel leader Khozh-Ahmed Noukhayev, conducted in Baku, Azerbaijan. In the course of the interview, Nukhayev gives his views on Islam and Chechen society.

In the same year, Klebnikov was chosen to be the first editor of the Russian edition of Forbes. Because his wife and children did not wish to move to Russia, Klebnikov agreed with them that he would take the post for only one year. The magazine only put out four issues before his death, including an article covering Russia's 100 wealthiest individuals.

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