Retired Russian Cop Arrested in Connection With Anna Politkovskaya’s Death

A retired Russian police officer was arrested Tuesday in connection to the 2006 murder of Anna Politkovskaya, a journalist who had criticized the government. Investigators said Lt. Col. Dmitry Pavlyuchenkov was “paid by a person whose identity is still unknown” to organize Politkovskaya’s murder. The journalist, who had been internationally recognized for her coverage of Chechnya, was gunned down in the elevator of her Moscow apartment building. Police arrested a suspected gunman, Rustam Makhmudov, in May, along with his two brothers, who are believed to have played minor roles in the murder. Russia’s then-president, Vladimir Putin, did not comment on Politkovskaya’s death for three days, and then said her influence on Russian politics was “extremely insignificant.”