The Man Who Knew
Too Much
48 Hours Mystery Reports On Murder Of U.S.
Journalist In Moscow
(Page 1 of 12)July 1, 2006
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Paul Klebnikov, editor of Forbes Russia, speaks
at a news conference to mark the edition of "The
Golden Hundred" list of Russia's richest people,
May 13, 2004. (AP)
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Quote
Just before he was killed, Paul Klebnikov was probing
corruption in Moscow's real estate business and was
investigating perhaps the most risky business of all -
the auto industry of Togliatti.
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This story originally aired on April 30, 2005.
On a July night two years ago, Paul Klebnikov, 41, sat
alone in the Moscow office of Forbes magazine. He picked
up the phone, and called three of the people he was
closest to -- his brother, his sister and his wife.
"He was very happy, he was very exhilarated, and he said
he'd never worked harder in his life," says his sister
Anna.
"It was a very normal conversation," recalls his wife,
Musa. "It seemed very calm."
"He was in a wonderful mood," adds his brother Peter,
who says it was only the second time Klebnikov had
called since he moved to Russia. "But on the other hand,
it was so strange that he called me. I've heard stories
of people before they die, [who] suddenly call their
loved ones. And maybe this was such a case."
His brothers, Peter and Michael, firmly believe that
Klebnikov was killed simply because of his work as an
investigative journalist. And that Klebnikov, who was
given information about corruption among Russia's rich
and powerful, had become a man who knew too much.
Correspondent Susan Spencer reports.
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"He was becoming a safe harbor for information," says
Michael Klebnikov.
"People started giving him information - all types of
people, from military generals to cops on the street,"
says Peter Klebnikov, who believes his brother died at
the peak of his life.
The murder of a journalist is hardly unheard of in
Russia. Roughly a dozen have been killed since President
Vladimir Putin took office. But Paul Klebnikov was the
first American journalist to be killed - and he was an
American who considered himself a son of Russia.
Descended from Russian aristocrats, Klebnikov and his
brothers and sister grew up in New York City, but they
never lost their Russian roots.
Klebnikov was the youngest in the family, but he more
than held his own. "He had a tremendous spirit of
discovery," says his brother, Peter.
The Man Who Knew
Too Much
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Paul Klebnikov, editor of Forbes Russia, speaks
at a news conference to mark the edition of "The
Golden Hundred" list of Russia's richest people,
May 13, 2004. (AP)
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After college, Klebnikov
trained to be a U.S. Marine, and entered an officer's
candidate school. Klebnikov was offered a commission but
turned it down. Then in 1989, he took what would become
his dream job - working in New York as a reporter for
Forbes magazine.
Klebnikov found his true calling, and his true love -
Helen Train, known as Musa. They met in childhood. They
were married in 1991 in a traditional Russian ceremony,
and eventually had three children.
But just three months after they married, the Soviet
Union collapsed, and Klebnikov's attention was lured
away to his other great passion: Russia.
Klebnikov started writing about the new Russian robber
barons, who were grabbing up factories and businesses,
and making billions -- leaving ordinary Russians with
virtually nothing.
"He was agonized about how older people had to sell
matches in the winter streets under the snow," says his
brother, Peter. "How people would have to sell their
books and their collections."
Outraged, Klebnikov jumped at the chance in 2004 to move
to Moscow and become editor in chief of the new Russian
edition of Forbes. There, he met some powerful people in
politics and business, and began learning some of their
secrets as well. He learned that one secret can hide
another, and uncovering the truth would be both
difficult, and dangerous.
"Last spring, he received some documents," says Michael
Klebnikov. "He said they were very, very serious
documents, and he wasn't quite sure what to do with
them."
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Paul Klebnikov, editor of Forbes Russia, speaks at a
news conference to mark the edition of "The Golden
Hundred" list of Russia's richest people, May 13, 2004.
(AP)
His family never has learned what was in those
documents. But if Klebnikov felt threatened, he didn't
show it. He had Musa and their oldest child come visit.
It was the last week of Klebnikov's life.
"It's in many ways a silly thing to say, but at that
moment, he had four days left to live," says Mark
Franchetti, a reporter for The Sunday Times of London .
He had dinner with Paul and Musa. "He was incredibly
excited about Forbes. He was very happy to be here. He'd
even talked about bringing his family here."
But that was not to be. Musa and her son ended their
visit, and on the last night of his life, Klebnikov
stayed late at the office. One by one, he called his
brother, his sister, and Musa. But on the street,
outside his office, someone was watching and waiting.
The relentless beat of Moscow's super-charged nightlife
pounds on into the wee hours. But for Klebnikov, it was
all background noise. "He was working so hard, he had no
time to socialize, no time to go out," says Franchetti.
A true workaholic, Klebnikov usually spent his evenings
in the sixth floor offices of Forbes Russia. Then he
would head home on the subway, just as he used to do in
New York.
He wrapped things up late on July 9, 2004. "About 10
p.m., he left the building from that entrance," says
Capt. Vassily Glushchenko, of Russia's General
Prosecutor's Office. He traces what investigators think
happened next: "We think he was being watched."
A dark car with darkened windows trailed Klebnikov as he
walked to the subway station. "He was on his way, and we
think the car was still following him," says Glushchenko.
"The whole way from his office."
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Paul Klebnikov, editor of Forbes Russia, speaks at a
news conference to mark the edition of "The Golden
Hundred" list of Russia's richest people, May 13, 2004.
(AP)
Less than two blocks from the Forbes office, the car
made a fast, left turn, and cut Klebnikov off.
Glushchenko says Klebnikov was shot nine times. He was
gunned down with a 9-millimeter Russian Makarov pistol.
His assailants vanished within seconds, their getaway
car speeding off into the shadows of the Moscow night. A
passing ambulance was first to call in the shooting and
quickly radioed for full medical backup.
Cops from the local precinct rushed to the scene.
Despite multiple gunshot wounds, Klebnikov was still
alive. When asked if he knew who shot him, he managed to
say, "No, I don't know. No."
"I was working when somebody called and told that Paul
Klebnikov is dying on the street," says Newsweek
reporter Michael Fishman, who rode in the ambulance with
Klebnikov.
"At that moment, I understood very well that he was very
bad, and he started losing consciousness. The nurses and
myself we were trying to get him back, shouting 'C'mon
you're strong, you can do it.'"
The ride to Hospital Number 20 took only a few minutes,
but Klebnikov's injuries were devastating. He couldn't
be saved.
The murder of an American may be unusual, but
unfortunately, contract killings in Moscow are not. By
one estimate, there are as many as 500 a year. It's said
you can arrange a contract hit for a little as a bottle
of vodka -- but not a hit like this one.
"To kill a person like Paul Klebnikov, you can't hire an
amateur," says Glushchenko, who seems sure that the
intricate planning of the murder points to a very
professional hit. "They knew when he's leaving his
office, when he was on his way to the underground
station. They knew where to put the car - and to shoot."
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Paul Klebnikov, editor of Forbes Russia, speaks at a
news conference to mark the edition of "The Golden
Hundred" list of Russia's richest people, May 13, 2004.
(AP)
Investigators found the getaway car just a day later,
abandoned about half a mile away: a black Lada, its
serial numbers scratched out, with stolen plates. The
killers' fingerprints were left behind inside the car,
and filed as evidence.
The shocking news of the first murder of an American
journalist in Russia got worldwide coverage. "There's
been a huge, huge interest worldwide," says Musa. "It's
so obvious that he was killed for speaking the truth."
A memorial service for Klebnikov at Moscow's Christ the
Savior Cathedral drew nearly 1,000 people. "Most of them
had never met him, and people would walk up to us," says
Peter Klebnikov. "And many of them would say, 'Forgive
us for not having protected your brother. In a way, it
made it all sort of easy to take."
Even before the funeral ended, the guessing game began.
Who would have any reason to have Paul Klebnikov
murdered?
Moscow today is a far cry from the Moscow of the old
Soviet Union. It's said that this city has more
billionaires than any other city on Earth. Think of
anything overpriced, overdone and over the top, and
you'll probably find it here.
It's an atmosphere that seems perfectly natural for
someone like pharmaceutical king Vladimir Bryntsalov to
produce a home movie, bragging about his own country
house, which he says puts Donald Trump to shame. His
city house isn't bad either.
Franchetti says given Russia's history, none of this is
a surprise: "You have the cash today. You blow it in
case, you don't know what's going to happen tomorrow. So
people who do have money, yeah they flaunt it. It's very
in your face. It's very brazen."
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Paul Klebnikov, editor of Forbes Russia, speaks at a
news conference to mark the edition of "The Golden
Hundred" list of Russia's richest people, May 13, 2004.
(AP)
Still, it was a shock to many when Klebnikov's fledgling
Forbes Russia published a list of the 100 wealthiest
Russians -- complete with their financial details.
Heading the list was an oil tycoon with a cool $15.2
billion.
"The Forbes report on the 100 richest Russians was
actually a fairly scandalous publication," says Carl
Shreck, an American who covers crime for the English
language Moscow Times. He thought the list was asking
for trouble. "As far as the business world is concerned,
as a general rule, people don't like to officially
announce how much money they actually have."
In a 2001 interview with CBS News, Klebnikov blasted
rich Russians for taking their fast-made billions of the
1990s, and moving the cash out of the country.
Forbes' new ranking of the rich got a lot of attention
in Moscow. Yelena Khanga, an Oprah-like afternoon talk
show host in Moscow, invited Klebnikov to be a guest on
her show.
"He charmed the whole team," she says. "Paul was smart,
and the way he cared about the subject, he was able to
win the hearts of our television."
Khanga admired Klebnikov and was becoming increasingly
concerned about what he was investigating. "I asked Paul
how dangerous were the articles that he was working on,"
says Khanga. "And Paul didn't hesitate for a moment. He
said that everything was under control. He was sure what
he was doing, and he had absolutely no fears."
But even Khanga wonders if Klebnikov fully grasped how
complicated Russia had become: "He was too American. He
still didn't get the sense of what's dangerous, what's
scary. And probably he crossed somebody. ...I guess
there is an expression, 'If you play with fire, you get
burned.' I'm afraid that's the case."
It seems hard to believe that a rich businessman would
murder simply for being outed as rich. But Franchetti
says in Russia today, it's a plausible scenario: "What
people said at the time was that it was dangerous and
provocative thing to do because it's almost an
invitation to the tax police and to the prosecutor to
come and investigate."
Klebnikov tried to put a positive spin on it when he'd
rolled out the names in the magazine: "All the
participants of this list are happy to be entering this
new stage."
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Paul Klebnikov, editor of Forbes Russia, speaks at a
news conference to mark the edition of "The Golden
Hundred" list of Russia's richest people, May 13, 2004.
(AP)
But Klebnikov clearly had a larger purpose in mind. "I
think he really wanted to help Russia go back to what
was a more energetic and positive mindset that they had
before communism," says Musa. "He wanted virtue to
succeed."
Klebnikov had become quite optimistic about the
prospects for the new Russia, but it was not so in the
'90s, when he was openly disgusted with all the
corruption he saw around him. As he wrote in one book,
"the country was being run by killers and crooks with
everyone in government an accomplice."
These were not exactly words to win friends --
especially when you call someone the godfather of the
Kremlin.
Boris Berezovsky was once in Russia's inner circle,
until he had a falling out with the Kremlin. In 2000, he
went into self-imposed, though hardly self-denying,
European exile. Paul had him at only No. 47 on Forbes'
richest Russians list, with a mere $620 million.
He started as a mathematician, making just $10 a week.
But Berezovsky became Russia's richest and perhaps most
notorious businessman. And Klebnikov had little use for
him.
Klebnikov once told an interviewer that Berezovsky was
an unprincipled person, immoral and absolutely cynical.
"In Russia, we have a tradition about the dead. One
either says good or nothing," says Berezovsky.
Despite a tradition of not speaking ill of the dead,
Berezovsky seemed to welcome a chance to tell 48 Hours
about his bitter feud with Klebnikov. It began when
Klebnikov linked him to the murder of a Russian TV
personality, with whom Berezovksy had business ties. The
allegations appeared in Forbes.
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Paul Klebnikov, editor of Forbes Russia, speaks at a
news conference to mark the edition of "The Golden
Hundred" list of Russia's richest people, May 13, 2004.
(AP)
Berezovsky sued for libel. But instead of backing down,
Klebnikov turned the article into a book, "Godfather of
the Kremlin," one that did even more damage to the
tycoon's reputation.
Years later, to settle the libel suit, Forbes was forced
to acknowledge in print: "There is no evidence that
Berezovsky was responsible for this or any other
murder." Today, Berezovsky still views that case as a
triumph over Klebnikov: "I proved in English court that
he's a bad journalist."
But despite their long feud, Berezovsky dismisses any
suggestion he could be involved in a contract hit -
saying it's just another outrageous lie. "It's again the
reason why I decide to give this interview," says
Berezovsky. "Maybe this [will] help to understand better
reality."
In Russia, understanding reality, and seeing beyond the
surface, is never simple. The real answers to this crime
may lie not in what Klebnikov already had written, but
rather in what he was working on - a new project, in a
place known as a killing ground.
The mystery of who ordered Klebnikov killed, and why,
still haunts his family.
"Writing the truth or speaking the truth ought not to be
rewarded with assassination," says Michael Klebnikov.
"All of us started recalling conversations or hints of
conversations. He was extremely careful about what he
said, how he said it. He was very, very careful."
But never so careful as to shy away from treacherous
territory, like Togliatti, home to the country's car
industry and possibly the key to Klebnikov's death.
The industry, he told an interviewer, was the most
criminalized in all of Russia, "drenched," he said, "in
blood."
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Paul Klebnikov, editor of Forbes Russia, speaks at a
news conference to mark the edition of "The Golden
Hundred" list of Russia's richest people, May 13, 2004.
(AP)
What possible connection could that have had with his
death? "He had visited Tolyatti, and he was very
interested in the car business in general," says Michael
Klebnikov.
"If it's true that Paul was preparing something big on
Togliatti, or had received documents, all I can say is
that's a very, very dangerous area to be looking into,"
says Franchetti.
In Togliatti, murder is a way of life. In fact,
Klebnikov said, he'd learned that when the authorities
finally cracked down on local gangs, they uncovered 65
contract killings. Most of the killings involved local
mob bosses fighting for turf. But reporters have been
targets as well.
One of the last journalists to die was a newspaper
editor who was writing a series of articles on fraud at
the Togliatti auto plant. He was stabbed to death with
something resembling an ice pick.
"Paul Klebnikov had just started looking into this
murder when he was gunned down," says Karan Nersisyan,
the lawyer for the editor's family. Nersisyan was about
to give Klebnikov papers found on the man's desk - rough
drafts of articles the editor had been working on before
he was stabbed.
"There are very few journalists in Russia today whom I
would trust enough," says Nersisyan. "Very few, almost
none. But I did trust Klebnikov. I believed that this
information would be in good hands with him."
Was there something in those papers, something in the
Togliatti story itself that someone wanted to stop
Klebnikov from publishing -- and wanted it badly enough
to order his murder?
Who else might have had a motive? Another of Klebnikov's
journalistic targets comes to mind, a man who Klebnikov
called one of the leaders of the Chechen mafia. He was
profiled in Klebnikov's most recent book, "Conversation
With A Barbarian."
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Paul Klebnikov, editor of Forbes Russia, speaks at a
news conference to mark the edition of "The Golden
Hundred" list of Russia's richest people, May 13, 2004.
(AP)
"It's quite easy to offend a person like that. And just
the title itself, you don't know, he may find it pretty
offensive," says Franchetti. "They can be pretty
dangerous people to write about. ... It can be deadly
dangerous to make enemies. Deadly dangerous."
In recent years, Chechen rebels, fighting for freedom
from Russia, have shot hostages inside a Russian
theater, blown up an airplane, and killed 170
schoolchildren at Beslan. Murdering a journalist who had
displeased their leaders would not be out of the
question.
But, after taking a look at all the possible motives for
this murder, Franchetti comes back to the simplest -
money: "For someone to make the decision to kill someone
like Paul Klebnikov, which is a very high profile
killing, he had to have had something which really was
damaging to the business interests."
All roads seem to lead back to business, to the
unmasking of corruption -- Klebnikov's trademark. And in
the weeks before he was killed, he'd found a new target,
Moscow's building boom, and its systematic destruction
of historic landmarks.
Musa says that Klebnikov sometimes wished Russia could
be a little more like the United States: "He was very
motivated to bring a lot of our best American things to
Russia, to really insist that we need laws. We need
people to respect rules, and we can't have this kind of
attitude where you can tear down a city block if you
feel like it."
As the old buildings come down, the fortunes being made
go up, including those of many politicians. One example
is Elena Baturina, wife of the mayor of Moscow. She runs
a huge construction empire. And an American official in
Moscow told CBS News that, when it comes to building,
little happens in the city without her approval.
Baturina claims her husband's job actually hurts her
business. But it's hard to see how. She was No. 35 on
Klebnikov's richest Russians list, and Forbes had put
her at $1.3 billion, a fact not previously known to most
ordinary Russians. She reportedly was furious with
Klebnikov for telling them.
Baturina did not respond to 48 Hours' requests for an
interview, and there is no evidence linking her to this
murder.
But colleagues say that Klebnikov seemed about to tread
on some powerful toes. "That is a very dangerous area to
be looking into if you're going to start doing real
investigative journalism because it's a dirty business,"
says Franchetti.
"We spent the whole last taxi ride I had with him in
Russia talking about the articles he wanted to write
about preservation," says Musa.
And these are articles that someone may have wanted to
stop. "He felt no fear," says Michael Klebnikov. "He had
a very strong sense of good and evil, or right and
wrong. There was no gray. There was no gray."
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Paul Klebnikov, editor of Forbes Russia, speaks at a
news conference to mark the edition of "The Golden
Hundred" list of Russia's richest people, May 13, 2004.
(AP)
Musa says she doesn't know who is responsible for her
husband's death: "I think Russia's very hard to
understand. Paul was probably one of the people who
really knew Russia the best."
But if taking on the powerful led to Klebnikov's death,
then what really are the chances this murder ever will
be solved?
Klebnikov's family not only misses the man they knew,
they also mourn the man he was becoming. "All of a
sudden you realize that this man is doing something
which is pretty amazing, which is, in a small way,
perhaps changing the world," says Peter Klebnikov.
And brother Michael vividly recalls a heart-to-heart
talk he and Paul had the summer before the murder.
"It was a chrystal-clear day, beautiful white sand, cold
water, nobody on the beach. And we just sort of lay side
by side on our towels and caught the early June sun and
talked about life, talked about Russia, about his
ambitions, and his hopes."
Michael told his wife that for the first time he felt
that his brother had "reached a level of impact and
level of importance that I'll never be able to achieve.
... having an astounding impact on Russia and on the way
that Russia's developing."
"Civil society requires a free press and killing the
journalist doesn't solve your problems," adds Musa. "We
need to solve this to make other journalists feel safe
and I think the average Russian has to believe their
country can be better. It's not just about killing
people."
"There's a sense that this is sort of a litmus test for
Russia," adds Peter. "Russia can never be a free
democracy if they let these kind of people go loose."
Facing international pressure, authorities arrested one
suspect late in 2004. And months later two others, all
members of a Chechen gang. Russian prosecutors said the
assassins were hired by this Chechen "Barbarian"
featured in Klebnikov's critical book, a theory the
family seriously doubts.
"We are working hard," says Glushchenko. "[This is] one
of the most important cases for the general prosecutor's
office."
But even if this case does have the full attention of
the prosecutor, even if it is a top priority here at the
Kremlin, contract killings still are notoriously
difficult to solve.
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Paul Klebnikov, editor of Forbes Russia, speaks at a
news conference to mark the edition of "The Golden
Hundred" list of Russia's richest people, May 13, 2004.
(AP)
"It's not going to be enough just to find some scapegoat," says Michael
Klebnikov. "It has to be taken right to the very top,
wherever that top is."
The Russians insisted they had their men and in January
began their jury trial. Two men charged with murder, one
with conspiracy. The proceedings were secret. Then four
months later, a verdict: not guilty on all counts.
Russian law allows acquittals to be appealed - but that
process is now stalled despite official American
efforts. And the Klebnikovs’ earlier confidence in
Russian justice has been shattered.
"My fear is that at a certain point, the investigation
will reach a level high enough where it reaches some
very powerful people and then it's gonna stall out,"
adds Peter Klebnikov.
High-ranking U.S. officials assure the family they are
keeping pressure on the Kremlin, but will that be
enough?
"People abroad make a mistake in the West very often
about Russia," says Franchetti. "They think that they
can come here and start telling the Russians what to do.
The Russians don't react to that kind of pressure. They
just don't."
It’s still unclear where this mystery will end: back in
the killing ground of Tolyatti, in the violent landscape
of Chechnya or perhaps back in Moscow and the massive
money machine of its new economy.
As Franchetti points out, no one at this point is even
sure of the motive: "Most likely, it's something that he
was actually working on, as opposed to something he
already published. But I'm afraid that we just don't
know."
And it something we may never know.
When the Committee to Protect Journalists presented its
International Press Freedom Award to Paul, Musa accepted
on his behalf.
"One great journalist has been killed but I hope other
journalists will pick up the banner and fight on --
because an attack on one journalist is an attack on all
journalists. And in this case, on hope itself. Thank
you," she said.
In the end, it's not symbolism but cherished memories
that will keep Paul Klebnikov alive for his family,
memories and the music and culture of the country he
loved as much as his own.
"What he really loved was the old Russian songs," says
Musa. "One of the things that really makes me think
about Paul is that these songs would go way down with
the whole choir."
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The Committee to Protect Journalists wants President
Bush to urge Russia's president to pursue justice in the
Klebnikov murder. The two presidents meet this month.
An international team of investigative reporters,
calling themselves "Project Klebnikov," is developing
new information in the case.
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