The New York Times has a cool profile of Russian journalist Sergei Kanev, who fearlessly covers the crime beat for Novaya Gazeta:
Bit by bit, in the Vladimir V. Putin era, the ranks of people willing to hold the powerful to account are thinning. Their work is increasingly marginalized, so that most Russians never learn what corruption or human rights abuses they have uncovered. And while most do not blame the government for the attacks themselves, they say failure to investigate and punish the crimes has set a permissive, and dangerous, tone. (...)
"The most dangerous thing right now is not to criticize the authorities," said Yulia Latynina, a columnist at the newspaper. "It's to criticize people who can kill you. The people Kanev writes about can kill. That is his problem."
