Russia has a long history of anti-press violence that may be on the upswing. Of the 52 journalist killings with a confirmed motive since 1992, 19 of those deaths have happened since 2000.
According to April 2010 data, 18 of those were unsolved. As a result, Russia is eighth on CPJ’s Impunity Index, which ranks countries based on how many journalists' deaths go without investigation or prosecution. (Russian authorities did, however, recently pledge to reopen some of the unsolved cases after meeting with CPJ officials.)
In 2009, Russia saw a number of violent acts against journalists. There were at least three murders tied to journalists’ work (and more that have unconfirmed motives), five beatings after coverage of sensitive topics, and in 11 cases, journalists, their publications, or their families were harassed or forced to abandon assignments.
