President George W. Bush raised with Russian President Vladimir Putin the murder of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, and Putin told him her death was a blow to Russia, the White House said Tuesday. Bush and Putin spoke by telephone on Monday about North Korea s reported nuclear test, but the first few minutes of the call addressed the journalist s slaying in Moscow on Saturday, spokesman Tony Snow said. Snow said Putin told Bush the murder was a personal tragedy and a blow to Russia and raised questions about a free media and security for journalist. Politkovskaya had reported on human rights abuses in Chechnya and described Putin as a liar. According to Snow, Putin told Bush the journalist did a lot of reporting about Chechnya and that her death was also a blow to the leadership of Chechnya. He said her death did the leadership more harm than her reporting did. Putin promised a thorough investigation, told Bush it was not clear who was responsible, and said he had not forgotten the case of Paul Klebnikov, an American who was editor of Forbes Russia magazine when he was murdered two years ago.
