Artyom Borovik

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Artyom Borovik

Artyom Borovik (September 13, 1960 – March 9, 2000) was a prominent Russian journalist and media magnate.

He was the son of a Soviet-era journalist, Genrikh Borovik, who worked for many years as a foreign correspondent in the U.S.

Artyom Borovik was a pioneer of investigative journalism in the Soviet Union during the beginning of glasnost. He worked for the American CBS program 60 Minutes during the 1990s, and began publishing his own monthly investigative newspaper Top Secret, which grew into a mass-media company involved in book publishing and television production. In 1999, Borovik started an investigative program called Versiya in partnership with U.S. News & World Report.

His Top Secret TV programme often focused on corruption cases involving Russia's political and economic elite. The programme, as well as Borovik's print publications, Top Secret and Versiya, were openly critical of Vladimir Putin. Artyom Borovik also opposed the Chechen Wars. His last investigation was about the Russian apartment bombings of 1999, which he and others alleged had actually been orchestrated by the Russian FSB [1]. In one of his last papers he quoted Vladimir Putin who said: "There are three ways to influence people: blackmail, vodka, and the threat to kill." [2]

Artyom Borovik died in a Yak-40 aircraft crash minutes after takeoff from Sheremetyevo Airport on the way to Kiev. All 9 people aboard were killed. Among the dead was also oil industry executive Ziya Bazhayev, who happened to be on board accidentally because his original flight was delayed [3].

Borovik published several books, including The Hidden War, about the Soviet war in Afghanistan.

Artyom Borovik is buried at Novodevichy Convent in Moscow.

An Artyom Borovik prize for investigative journalism is awarded annually in Moscow. Anna Politkovskaya received this prize.

[edit] Books

Artyom Borovik. Russian in the U. S. Army. Hippocrene Books, Inc. 1990. ISBN 0-87052-627-8
Artyom Borovik. Hidden War: A Russian Journalist's Account of the Soviet War in Afghanistan. Grove/Atlantic, Inc. 1992. ISBN 0-87113-283-4

[edit] See also

Anna Politkovskaya, murdered journalist and human rights activist well-known for her opposition to the Putin administration
Sergei Yushenkov, vice chairman of Kovalev commission who was assassinated while investigating Russian apartment bombings
Yuri Shchekochikhin, journalist who was poisoned while investigating Russian apartment bombings and other FSB related cases
Mikhail Trepashkin, former FSB officer and lawyer who was arrested and imprisoned while investigating Russian apartment bombings
Galina Starovoitova, assassinated leader of Democratic Russia party
Alexander Litvinenko, writer of books about FSB who was poisoned in London