An outspoken Russian journalist has gone into hiding after receiving threats over an article that criticised the country’s Soviet past, the website that published the article said on Monday.
Alexander Podrabinek, a former anti-Communist dissident who spent time in a Soviet prison, wrote an article for the Ej.ru website last week in which he lashed out at Soviet war veterans — widely considered heroes in Russia.
He and his family went into hiding after their address and home telephone number were posted on websites linked to pro-Kremlin youth groups and unknown people appeared at his home, said Olga Pashkova, director of Ej.ru.
”He fears for his family, he wants to protect them,” Pashkova told Agence France-Presse. ”We should be worried for Alexander … However, he knows how to behave in such situations, and I hope he is well-hidden.”
Pashkova said she had also been threatened over the article, which slammed a decision to rename a kebab restaurant called ”Anti-Soviet” after complaints from a group representing Soviet war veterans.
The restaurant’s name was actually a joke referring to its location opposite the Soviet Hotel, but veterans called it disrespectful and the eatery renamed itself ”Soviet” amid pressure from local officials.
In his article, Podrabinek lashed out at official veterans groups for defending the ”bloody, false and shameful” Soviet past and insisted that ”veterans of the struggle against Soviet power” were heroes too.
The pro-Kremlin youth group Nashi (Ours), which led the criticism of the article, said on Monday that it would sue Podrabinek for defamation and pledged to stage protests outside his house, but denied threatening him.
The Paris-based media freedom group Reporters Without Borders said on Sunday that ”this hate campaign against Podrabinek, which has even included calls for his death, must stop at once”.
Podrabinek (56) spent several years in a Soviet prison for writing articles critical of the Communist government.
In recent years he had written for Ej.ru and the opposition newspaper Novaya Gazeta, while also running his own news website, Prima-news.ru. — AFP
