Anastasia Baburova
Encyclopedia
Anastasia Eduardivna Baburova was a journalist for Novaya Gazeta
and a student of journalism at Moscow State University
. She was born in Sevastopol
, Ukraine
.
A member of Autonomous Action
, she investigated activities of neo-Nazi groups. She was shot and killed together with human rights
lawyer Stanislav Markelov
, who was the other of the assassin's targets.
In 2000 she began studying at the Management-Faculty of the Black Sea
branch of the Moscow State University
in Sevastopol. Together with her mother she became a Russian citizen
in the year 2000. She went to Moscow
in 2001 and became a student international law
at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations. In 2003 she married a fellow Journalistic-Student, Alexander Frolov, whom she met in 2000 during her studies in Sevastopol. In 2004 Baburova became a journalist student at the Moscow State University Along with her studies, she worked as a freelance journalist for Wetschernjaja Moskwa, Rossiskaja Gazeta and Izvestia
. In the summer of 2007 Baburova and Frolov divorced.
From October 2008 she investigated (as a freelance-journalist) Russian Neo-Nazi Groups for Novaya Gazeta.
Besides the Russian
and Ukrainian
which she considered her native languages, she also spoke English
and French
.
Baburova was active in the anarchist environmentalist movement. She participated in the activities of ecological camps, in social fora, including the Fifth European Social Forum
in Malmö
2008, organised the 'Anti-capitalism 2008' festival, demonstrated widely, and was involved in anti-fascist activities more generally.
In July 2008, Baburova participated in a demonstration against the felling of the Khimkinsky Forest. For her involvement in another protest against the eviction of former pork factory workers from the Moscow
factory, 'Smena' and impoverished CIS
immigrants she would spend a night in prison.
The day before her murder, Anastasia appeared at the anarcho-communist unity event 'Autonomous Action'. Earlier she had written an article on behalf of the journal 'Avtonom'.
, may be characterised by "nationalism, spinelessness and cynicism".
journalist to be killed since 2000. According to Russian military analyst Pavel Felgenhauer
, the details of the murder indicate the involvement of Russian state security services
At first it was reported that Baburova had been wounded in an attempt to detain Markelov's killer, however later Russian law enforcement authorities declared that Baburova was shot in the back of her head. Baburova died a few hours after the attack in a Moscow
hospital.
President of Ukraine
Viktor Yushchenko
sent her parents a condolence telegram on 23 January 2009. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev
gave his condolences 6 days later.
On 26 January 2009 Baburova was buried in the central city cemetery of her home town of Sevastopol.
Many people are very skeptical with respect to the ability of the federal institutes to investigate the murder and find the perpetrators of the crimes.
The negative estimate of the professionalism of the Russian executive system stimulates the wide discussion of the case in newspapers, blogs and personal sites.
Novaya Gazeta
Novaya Gazeta is a Russian newspaper well known in the country for its critical and investigative coverage of Russian political and social affairs....
and a student of journalism at Moscow State University
Moscow State University
Lomonosov Moscow State University , previously known as Lomonosov University or MSU , is the largest university in Russia. Founded in 1755, it also claims to be one of the oldest university in Russia and to have the tallest educational building in the world. Its current rector is Viktor Sadovnichiy...
. She was born in Sevastopol
Sevastopol
Sevastopol is a city on rights of administrative division of Ukraine, located on the Black Sea coast of the Crimea peninsula. It has a population of 342,451 . Sevastopol is the second largest port in Ukraine, after the Port of Odessa....
, Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
.
A member of Autonomous Action
Autonomous Action
Autonomous Action, Avtonomnoe Deystvie, is a revolutionary anarchist federation in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine that was founded in January 2002.AD is composed of anarcho-communists, syndicalists, autonomist-marxists, and radical ecologists...
, she investigated activities of neo-Nazi groups. She was shot and killed together with human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
lawyer Stanislav Markelov
Stanislav Markelov
Stanislav Yuryevich Markelov was a human rights lawyer and journalist who wrote investigative articles on Chechnya. Markelov had been the attorney for the family of Elza Kungaeva, a young Chechen woman killed by Russian colonel Yuri Budanov, who was released from prison in mid-January, 15 months...
, who was the other of the assassin's targets.
Personal life
Anastasia Baburova was the only child of her parents Eduard Fjodorovich Baburov and Larissa Iwanivna Baburova who were both professors at the Sevastopol National Technical University.In 2000 she began studying at the Management-Faculty of the Black Sea
Black Sea
The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...
branch of the Moscow State University
Moscow State University
Lomonosov Moscow State University , previously known as Lomonosov University or MSU , is the largest university in Russia. Founded in 1755, it also claims to be one of the oldest university in Russia and to have the tallest educational building in the world. Its current rector is Viktor Sadovnichiy...
in Sevastopol. Together with her mother she became a Russian citizen
Russian nationality law
Russian nationality law consists of the Constitution of the Russian Federation , the federal act regarding citizenship of the Russian Federation and the international treaties that cover citizenship questions to which the Russian Federation is a party...
in the year 2000. She went to Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
in 2001 and became a student international law
International law
Public international law concerns the structure and conduct of sovereign states; analogous entities, such as the Holy See; and intergovernmental organizations. To a lesser degree, international law also may affect multinational corporations and individuals, an impact increasingly evolving beyond...
at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations. In 2003 she married a fellow Journalistic-Student, Alexander Frolov, whom she met in 2000 during her studies in Sevastopol. In 2004 Baburova became a journalist student at the Moscow State University Along with her studies, she worked as a freelance journalist for Wetschernjaja Moskwa, Rossiskaja Gazeta and Izvestia
Izvestia
Izvestia is a long-running high-circulation daily newspaper in Russia. The word "izvestiya" in Russian means "delivered messages", derived from the verb izveshchat . In the context of newspapers it is usually translated as "news" or "reports".-Origin:The newspaper began as the News of the...
. In the summer of 2007 Baburova and Frolov divorced.
From October 2008 she investigated (as a freelance-journalist) Russian Neo-Nazi Groups for Novaya Gazeta.
Besides the Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
and Ukrainian
Ukrainian language
Ukrainian is a language of the East Slavic subgroup of the Slavic languages. It is the official state language of Ukraine. Written Ukrainian uses a variant of the Cyrillic alphabet....
which she considered her native languages, she also spoke English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
and French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
.
Political activity
Baburova's political activity may be traced back to her having witnessed an attack by neo-nazis on a foreigner, after which she wrote in her diary, "It is difficult to look in the eyes of a Korean student, who has only just been stuck in the temple by two juvenile thugs... they waved 'Sieg Heil' towards the tram and ran off."Baburova was active in the anarchist environmentalist movement. She participated in the activities of ecological camps, in social fora, including the Fifth European Social Forum
European Social Forum
The European Social Forum is a recurring conference held by members of the alter-globalization movement . In the first few years after it started in 2002 the conference was held every year, but later it became biannual due to difficulties with finding host countries...
in Malmö
Malmö
Malmö , in the southernmost province of Scania, is the third most populous city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg.Malmö is the seat of Malmö Municipality and the capital of Skåne County...
2008, organised the 'Anti-capitalism 2008' festival, demonstrated widely, and was involved in anti-fascist activities more generally.
In July 2008, Baburova participated in a demonstration against the felling of the Khimkinsky Forest. For her involvement in another protest against the eviction of former pork factory workers from the Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
factory, 'Smena' and impoverished CIS
Commonwealth of Independent States
The Commonwealth of Independent States is a regional organization whose participating countries are former Soviet Republics, formed during the breakup of the Soviet Union....
immigrants she would spend a night in prison.
The day before her murder, Anastasia appeared at the anarcho-communist unity event 'Autonomous Action'. Earlier she had written an article on behalf of the journal 'Avtonom'.
Journalistic activity
Throughout 2008, Anastasia Baburova worked on the Editorial team of the Russian newspaper, Izvestiya, and had had dozens of articles published by both 'Izvestiya' and 'Financial News', particularly on finance. In December 2008, she resigned from this post over the political course of the newspaper, which, according to the British weekly newspaper The EconomistThe Economist
The Economist is an English-language weekly news and international affairs publication owned by The Economist Newspaper Ltd. and edited in offices in the City of Westminster, London, England. Continuous publication began under founder James Wilson in September 1843...
, may be characterised by "nationalism, spinelessness and cynicism".
Death
She became the fourth Novaya GazetaNovaya Gazeta
Novaya Gazeta is a Russian newspaper well known in the country for its critical and investigative coverage of Russian political and social affairs....
journalist to be killed since 2000. According to Russian military analyst Pavel Felgenhauer
Pavel Felgenhauer
Pavel E. Felgenhauer is a Russian journalist. He is known for his publications critical of Russia's political and military elite.-Biography:...
, the details of the murder indicate the involvement of Russian state security services
At first it was reported that Baburova had been wounded in an attempt to detain Markelov's killer, however later Russian law enforcement authorities declared that Baburova was shot in the back of her head. Baburova died a few hours after the attack in a Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
hospital.
President of Ukraine
President of Ukraine
Prior to the formation of the modern Ukrainian presidency, the previous Ukrainian head of state office was officially established in exile by Andriy Livytskyi. At first the de facto leader of nation was the president of the Central Rada at early years of the Ukrainian People's Republic, while the...
Viktor Yushchenko
Viktor Yushchenko
Viktor Andriyovych Yushchenko is a former President of Ukraine. He took office on January 23, 2005, following a period of popular unrest known as the Orange Revolution...
sent her parents a condolence telegram on 23 January 2009. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev
Dmitry Medvedev
Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev is the third President of the Russian Federation.Born to a family of academics, Medvedev graduated from the Law Department of Leningrad State University in 1987. He defended his dissertation in 1990 and worked as a docent at his alma mater, now renamed to Saint...
gave his condolences 6 days later.
On 26 January 2009 Baburova was buried in the central city cemetery of her home town of Sevastopol.
Many people are very skeptical with respect to the ability of the federal institutes to investigate the murder and find the perpetrators of the crimes.
The negative estimate of the professionalism of the Russian executive system stimulates the wide discussion of the case in newspapers, blogs and personal sites.