Putin Praises Journalist Courage, Vows Faster Probe Into Assault
This article is for subscribers only.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, whose country’s press freedoms are ranked below Zimbabwe and Iraq, praised the “courage” of journalists at an award ceremony that honored their professional holiday.
The premier, who is running for the presidency next year, pledged to speed up an investigation into the near-fatal beating of Mikhail Beketov, a journalist who received a state award today and campaigned against government plans to build a highway to St. Petersburg through the Khimki forest near Moscow.