[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 103 (Thursday, July 22, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1463-E1464]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  AN ARTICLE ABOUT MR. PAUL KLEBNIKOV

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. MARK E. SOUDER

                               of indiana

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 22, 2004

  Mr. SOUDER. Mr. Speaker, when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, its 
fall was heralded as a new era of peace and prosperity, when the 
victims of communism would learn what it means to live in freedom. The 
establishment of capitalism in the capital of communism was no less 
significant. Sadly, the brand of Russian capitalism practiced today is 
just another form of materialism without moral foundation.
  As rivals jockey for a share of the market and the trappings of a 
high flying Western lifestyle, Russia's amoral brand of the market 
economy has led to a last man standing mentality where shooting and 
bombing rivals and critics are nearly as common as balancing the books.
  This past week, the Al Capones of Russia's business world claimed yet 
another victim. Paul Klebnikov, an American and editor of Forbes 
Magazine in Russia, was shot to death outside his office.
  Klebnikov's only crime was reporting on the Russian business world 
and criticizing what he viewed as the too close relationship between 
Russia's elite businessmen and the government.
  Paul Klebnikov's fearlessness and sense of right and wrong ultimately 
were his undoing. Had he been more circumspect in his views or less 
vocal with his criticism, he would probably be alive today. Those who 
knew Klebnikov, however, would be the first to say that he would not 
have changed a thing.
  He believed in Russia and in Russia's future. He could not simply 
sweep Russia's problems under the rug. He knew that the only way to 
move democracy and market capitalism toward a normal existence was to 
condemn the excessive and corrupt.
  Like so many other similar crimes, Paul Klebnikov's assassination has 
not been solved. Given the current strength of the Russian mafia and 
rampant corruption in the Russian government, I don't know if his 
murderers will ever be brought to justice.
  I am submitting for the Record an article from the Washington Post. 
In it, Michael Caputo, a friend and colleague of Paul Klebnikov, honors 
his friend better than I can.

                  [The Washington Post, July 13, 2004]

                        Same Old Ruthless Russia

                         (By Michael R. Caputo)

       American journalist Paul Klebnikov was shot to death 
     outside my office building on Friday. At least it used to be 
     my office. I worked with Klebnikov, Forbes magazine's 
     maverick correspondent, several times in the past 10 years, 
     sometimes in Moscow, sometimes in New York. Our paths crossed 
     often through one of Russia's wildest decades.
       Eight years after we first met as he covered Boris 
     Yeltsin's 1996 presidential election, his murder brings 
     clarity: Nothing has changed. Brutal criminals still run amok 
     in Russia, operating with impunity and no fear of 
     prosecution.
       Klebnikov had high hopes for Russia and was determined to 
     urge democracy along. He grew up in the United States, 
     cradled in the close-knit Russian American community; his 
     Russian skills were perfect and his devotion to the culture 
     ran deep. He blossomed in journalism just as the communist 
     bloc crumbled, and his unique understanding of ``the story'' 
     in the region propelled his career.
       As we toured the Russian countryside eight years ago, he 
     talked to peasants waiting in line to vote and grilled me 
     with questions, too. Had I run across billionaire Boris 
     Berezovsky in my work with the Yeltsin administration? I 
     hadn't. Klebnikov had recently been scratching the surface of 
     Berezovsky's brazen get-rich-quick schemes. He was convinced 
     there was much more to the oligarch. He was in town to 
     investigate him as well as to cover the elections.
       Berezovsky was one of several super-wealthy men who had 
     back doors to Yeltsin's Kremlin. His popularity waxed and 
     waned, but as he amassed wealth he gained unparalleled power. 
     Experienced expatriates in Russia shared an essential rule: 
     Don't cross these brutal billionaires, ever, or you're likely 
     to go home in a box.
       Klebnikov knew this well. In Russia the mafia kills every 
     day. He knew Paul Tatum, the Oklahoma entrepreneur who ran 
     afoul of Moscow's mafia and was shot dead just a few hundred 
     yards from a hotel he had founded and had fought against 
     Mayor Yuri Luzhkov to control. After Tatum's murder, Hizzoner 
     promised swift justice. We're still waiting.
       Tatum had led a loud life in Moscow. Klebnikov told me he 
     knew Tatum's battle with city ``authorities'' was never a 
     sound strategy for survival. The Tatum murder shook him, but 
     he was determined to go forward with what grew into a series 
     of articles exposing Russian corruption. After all, he was a 
     reporter, not a businessman.
       As a journalist, Klebnikov was the real deal. He was based 
     in New York through the 1990s but had more contacts in Moscow 
     than most reporters on the ground full time. During his 
     frequent trips to the region he accomplished more meetings 
     before lunch than many of us could pull off in a week.
       Klebnikov listened as intently to the griping of a 
     pensioner as he did to the drone of politicians. He was quick 
     to the point, wasted no time, and drove to the center of his 
     story like a tank. Some thought he was bold,

[[Page E1464]]

     others thought him brash, but everyone was reading.
       ``Godfather of the Kremlin,'' his December 1996 Forbes 
     cover story on Berezovsky, threw new light on the doings of 
     Russia's oligarchs. The story grew into Klebnikov's first 
     book, with the same title, published in 2001. The exiled 
     industrialist took the magazine to court in London, and 
     eventually Forbes recanted accusations of violence. Those of 
     us who lived in Moscow during Berezovsky's heyday still 
     believe.
       His follow-up stories on Russian industrialists were always 
     fair and thorough, but he didn't make many friends in the 
     country. Soon after Vladimir Putin stepped into the 
     presidency, Klebnikov and I met in New York. I told him he 
     needed to watch his back with so much change afoot. He 
     shrugged and said he was uniquely positioned to get to the 
     heart of corruption in Russia. ``Who else is going to do 
     it?'' he asked. I had no answer.
       When Forbes announced Klebnikov would lead its new Russian 
     publication and relocate to Moscow, I immediately feared for 
     his safety. A few months later he was dead. I think about 
     him, sprawled bleeding on the sidewalk, coughing his final 
     words to a reporter colleague who found him dying.
       Russia hasn't changed in the past decade and at this 
     trajectory it won't be truly civilized for generations. Those 
     who killed Klebnikov are killing today, plan to kill 
     tomorrow, and know they'll roam free to kill for years to 
     come. Hellbent on getting rich, they have no boundaries. 
     Raised in a communist world devoid of morals, they have no 
     soul.
       There is no valid reason why a nation so tolerant--even 
     complicit--in organized crime should stand on par with world 
     leaders in groups such as the World Trade Organization. Putin 
     must stand as the guarantor of media freedom. And the Bush 
     administration must demand results in this murder 
     investigation and require the assassins and their bosses be 
     detected, arrested, tried and punished to the fullest extent 
     of the law.
       Or will it let Paul Klebnikov, like Paul Tatum, be just 
     another footnote in Russia's disingenuous flirtation with 
     world-class rule of law? We're waiting.

                          ____________________