17 1994 October, the
A 27-year-old journalist was killed in an explosion at the Moskovsky Komsomolets editorial office. Dmitry Kholodov. The first high-profile political assassination in the country.
He wasn't killed in the war. He was killed for the truth.
(a plaque in memory of Kholodov at the MK editorial office)
Born in 1967 Moscow region. He served in the Marine Corps, then graduated from MEPhI and worked at the Mechanical Engineering Research Institute.
When the defense industry collapsed, he got a job as a radio correspondent. In 1992, he joined MK. He traveled to hot spots: Abkhazia, Chechnya, Azerbaijan, and the Afghan border.
He investigated corruption in the military. A year before his death, he published 18 articles harshly criticizing the Minister of Defense. Pavel Grachev. He called Kholodov “the main military enemy” (he said this on air at Posner) and ordered that he not be allowed to attend press conferences at the Ministry of Defense.
On the day of his death, Kholodov went to Kazan Station — to retrieve from the storage locker a briefcase left for him by an unknown person. It was supposed to contain documents on the illegal arms trade with Chechen separatists.
If this material is published, the minister will be removed from his post.
(Kholodov)
I opened a briefcase in the editorial office and found a homemade booby trap inside.
This shouldn't have happened. It's a shame.
(last words)
According to investigators, the organizers of the murder were six airborne forces officers, including the former chief of intelligence. Pavel Popovskikh. At one of the meetings, Grachev allegedly asked his subordinates to “deal with” Kholodov, and they took his words literally.
Break his legs and shut his throat
(Popovskikh - about Grachev's order)
At the trial, Grachev (now the former Minister of Defense) stated that he treated Kholodov “not badly.”
If any of my subordinates took my words regarding Kholodov as an order to kill, then that is their problem, not the problem of the Minister of Defense.
Popovskikh admitted that his subordinates had overstepped their bounds. But in 2002, a court acquitted him and the other suspects due to lack of evidence. They later won multi-million dollar compensation from the state.
Today the court sentenced Dmitry Kholodov.
(headline of MK's report from the court)
