Yevgenia Albats

Yevgenia Markovna Albats
Born	(1958-09-05) 5 September 1958 Moscow, Russian SFSR
Nationality	Russian
Alma mater	Moscow State University Harvard University
Occupation	Chief Editor of The New Times magazine
Spouse(s)	Yaroslav Golovanov
Children	Olga (b. 1988)

Yevgenia Markovna Albats (Russian: Евге́ния Ма́рковна Альба́ц, born 5 September 1958^[1][2]) is a Russian investigative journalist, political scientist, writer and radio host. As of 2011, she works as a chief editor of The New Times magazine.^[3] She holds a position in the leadership of the Russian Jewish Congress.

Early life and education

Albats' father, Mark Yefremovich Albats, was a member of a GRU military reconnaissance team during World War II, residing in German-occupied Ukraine.^[4] In 1943 he was wounded and discharged from the Army. Afterward he worked as an engineer at a scientific institution, designing radiolocation systems for the Soviet Army.^[1][5] Albats' mother, Yelena Izmaylovskaya, was an actress and a radio news host.^[5][6] Albats' elder sister, Tatyana Komarova, is a television host/anchor.^[5]

Yevgenia Albats graduated from the Department of Journalism of Moscow State University in 1980. One of her classmates and friends was Anna Politkovskaya, who would become an investigative journalist and was assassinated in 2006.^[7]

Journalism career

Albats started her professional work as a science observer writing about astrophysics and particle physics for the Izvestia newspaper's Sunday supplement, Nedelya. From 1986 to 1992, she worked for the Moscow News. In 1996 to 2006, she worked for Izvestia (led the weekly column We and Our Children) and Novaya Gazeta.^[8]

She received the Golden Pen Award from the Russian Union of Journalists for exposing poor conditions in maternity wards in 1989.^[9]

Albats was fired from Izvestia in 1997 after she had completed a major article exposing alleged illegal activities by the FSB.^[10] She was restored to her position by a court decision on 15 March 1997.^[1]

In 2007, Albats became a deputy chief editor of The New Times magazine.^[11] On 16 January 2009 she replaced Irena Lisnevskaya as the Chief Editor of the magazine.^[12]

Political activities

From 1993 to 2000, she was a member of the Clemency Commission at the Executive Office of the President of the Russian Federation.

Research and works

Albats was a Fellow at Harvard University's Nieman Foundation for Journalism in 1993 (Fellowship at the Nieman Foundation).

In 2004 Albats was awarded a PhD in political science from Harvard University.^[13] She works at the radio station Echo of Moscow and writes for the Moscow Times.

In 1992 Albats was appointed a member of a governmental commission to examine KGB involvement in Soviet coup attempt of 1991.^[14][15] As a member of this commission she interviewed KGB officers. Albats described her findings in The State Within a State: The KGB and Its Hold on Russia – Past, Present, and Future^[16] in 1994. KGB chairman Vadim Bakatin gave Albats the number of KGB officers as 180,000 in a post-1991 interview. Using the "rule of thumb", "four non-ranking KGB employees for every officer", Albats estimated that the number of KGB employees in Russia in 1992 approached 700,000, "one [political police agent] for every 297 citizens of Russia", as opposed to "one Chekist for every 428 Soviet citizens."^[16]

Albats described the KGB as a leading political force rather than a security organization. She wrote that KGB directors Lavrenty Beria, Yuri Andropov and Vladimir Kryuchkov manipulated Communist Party leaders. She asserted that FSB, the successor of KGB, became a totalitarian party.^[16] Journalist John Barron,^[17] retired KGB Major General Oleg Kalugin^[18] and the highest-ranking known Soviet bloc defector, Lt. Gen. Ion Mihai Pacepa^[19] reportedly shared Albats's point of view.

In 1992 Albats published an article in Izvestia quoting documents from KGB archives that David Karr was "a competent KGB source" who "submitted information to the KGB on the technical capabilities of the United States and other capitalist countries".^[20] She cited KGB notes describing transfers of money to communist parties of United States, Finland, France, Italy, as well as "commercial dealings" of Rajiv Gandhi's family with Soviet foreign trade.^[21][22] Albats learned that the KGB employed the future Russian Patriarch Alexius II as an agent under a nickname Drozdov.^[16] KGB defector Vasili Mitrokhin and dissident priest Gleb Yakunin who had access to KGB archives reported the same.^[16][23]

Albats published a book, The Jewish question, in 1995.^[24][25]

Talk shows

As of 2009 Albats hosted a radio talk program at Echo of Moscow. In February 2007 she held a talk with Olga Kryshtanovskaya, director of the Moscow-based Centre for the Study of Elites. Kryshtanovskaya said that FSB members and other "siloviks" took key positions in the Russian government, Parliament and business. These members share their military background and nationalistic views. She noted that most FSB members remain in the "acting reserve" even when they formally leave the organization. All "acting reserve" members receive an FSB salary, follow FSB instructions, and remain above the law because their organization protects them, according to Kryshtanovskaya.^[26][27]

In 2006, Albats criticized Anna Arutunyan^[28] who had written an article in the Moscow News about the murdered journalist Anna Politkovskaya.^[29] Arutunyan wrote that Politkovskaya became an activist and that her articles contained "inaccuracies".

Online columnists Yelena Kalashnikova and Oleg Kashin found "boorishness" in Albats's criticism.^[30][31]

Family and personal life

Albats was married to journalist, writer and science popularizer Yaroslav Golovanov and had a daughter, Olga (b. 1988).^[32][33]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Yevgenia Albats.

Books

• Bureaucrats and Russian Transition: Politics of Accommodation, Harvard University Press, 2004.
• The State Within a State: The KGB and Its Hold on Russia – Past, Present, and Future, Yevgenia Albats and Catherine A. Fitzpatrick. 1994. ISBN 0-374-18104-7.

Articles by Albats

• Interview with Albats by PBS.
• Reporting Stories in Russia That No One Will Publish, 23 April 2000, Nieman Reports.
• The Day Democracy Died in Russia, The Center for Public Integrity, 17 April 2001.
• The Chechen War Comes Home, The New York Times, 26 October 2002.
• Wielding the KGB's Tools, The Moscow Times, 31 May 2004.
• The Kremlin Shows Its True Face, The Moscow Times, 2 August 2004.
• In Putin's Kremlin, It's All About Control, The Washington Post, 12 December 2004.
• The Shakedown State, Higher School of Economics, Moscow, 2005.
• Seven Questions: Russia’s Cloaks and Daggers, Foreign Policy, November 2006.
• Interview with Y. Albats in English and German, "Kontakt - Report", April 2007.

Articles, talks by Albats in Russian

• Higher School of Economics.
• Personal column at Echo of Moscow.
• Personal column in the online magazine YeZh.
• Personal blog.

Articles about Albats

• Who is next?, Publius Pundit.
• Moscow Liberals Hold Demonstration, Charles Gurin, Jamestown Foundation.