Paul Khlebnikov murder case under investigation

Moscow police chief Vladimir Pronin issued a sensational statement yesterday, September 28, that the murder of Paul Khlebnikov, editor-in-chief of Russian Forbes, had been disclosed. In Mr Pronin's words, Moscow policemen detained two Chechens involved in the murder of the journalist on the night of September 27-28. Three pistols were found on the arrested men during the search. One of them is likely a 9-mm Stechkin pistol which is the murder instrument according to a ballistic examination.

However this statement has caused open discontent in the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Russian Prosecutor General's Office. The Caucasian Knot correspondent was told in the Public Relations Department of the Russian Prosecutor General's Office that "the investigation into the murder of Paul Khlebnikov is going on, the Moscow police have no relation to it, and it is not clear what Mr Pronin makes such statement for." The press service official also said that "the murder of Khlebnikov is being investigated by the Department for Cases of Special Importance of the Russian Prosecutor General's Office now, and the investigators are taking active steps to establish people who committed the murder of the well-known journalist." As for the murder instrument, the investigators do not consider it to be the Stechkin pistol mentioned by Pronin. "Khlebnikov was murdered from a Makarov pistol", the source in the Prosecutor General's Office said.

As for the detention of two Chechens in the residential area not far from the Yaroslavsky railroad terminal, "policemen arrived there during a usual check," he added.