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The Russian Press: Ivan Safronov Was Murdered

The Russian Journalist killed last week after plummeting from a fifth floor window was investigating a secret arms deal between Russia, Syria and Iran, his paper announced. The journalist, who is said to be murdered, was a military affairs writer for the daily "Kommersant." He often annoyed the Russian authorities because of the critical tone of his articles. According to the paper, he was warned prier to his death while picking up material for his article on the secret arms deal.

After the warning, Safronov told his colleges he intends to postpone the publishing of his article, because he was told that the article would cause a far-reaching international scandal. He didn`t say who it was that warned him, but it is known that he was interrogated several times by the Federal Security Bureau (FSB), the successor of the KGB, that was concerned that he was exposing government secrets in his articles, thus undermining national security.

The paper reported that prior to his trip to the International Arms Fair, in the United Arab Emirates, last month, Safronov said he was planning to receive confirmation of Russia`s intention to sell, through Belarus, S-300 missiles to Iran and SU-30 fighter Aircrafts to Syria. Later on, he called his editors, during the trip, and said he received a confirmation. Once returning to Russia, He told his co-workers that Russia was also planning to sell Syria Iskander missiles, MiG-29 fighter jets and Pantsyr-S1 air defense systems.