PUTIN GROWS EVER MORE THUGGISH:

She was a fearless critic of President Putin and chronicler of atrocities in Russia’s long war with its breakaway republic of Chechnya. One of those concerns may have cost Anna Politkovskaya her life.

The most famous investigative journalist in Russia was shot dead by an assassin on Saturday, Mr Putin’s 54th birthday, as she stepped from the lift of her Moscow apartment building to collect shopping from her car. The murder bore the hallmarks of a contract killing. . . .

Hundreds of people gathered in Pushkin Square to light candles in her memory, many accusing the authorities of complicity. One poster read: “The Kremlin has killed freedom of speech.”

Valeri Borshchev, of the liberal Yabloko party, said: “This is a political killing, and the authorities are mixed up in this.”

I hope that this will get the reaction it deserves from the international community, but I’m afraid my faith in the international community isn’t what it once was.

UPDATE: Ivan Lenin thinks it’s unfair to blame Putin: “Those who ordered this murder were most likely politically motivated, and it’s very possible they are pretty high up in Putin’s administration. But this event is so much more likely to destabilize Putin’s regime than strengthen it.”

On the other hand, here’s more thuggishness from Putin.