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'On the Eve of the First World War, the single Siberian province of Irkutsk was larger than all of India'

W.Bruce Lincoln

Union expresses concern over attack on investigative journalist in Barnaul

By The Siberian Times reporter

28 September 2016

Girgory Pasko struck on head in Siberian city after arriving to hold seminar for local reporters and bloggers.

'Don't forget about your own safety while searching for beautiful pictures,' residents and visitors are warned. Picture: Petrozavodsk Govorit

The well-known journalist - previously jailed under espionage laws for exposing radioactive pollution by the navy - said he was attacked by two burly men outside his hotel in Barnaul, capital of the Altai region.

One of them one 'hit me very hard on the temple', he alleged. They shouted at him: 'Get out of our city - we'll get you!' said Pasko, the director of Foundation 19/29 that supports investigative journalists.

He claimed the attack happened a day after a local news site reported his arrival, calling him a traitor and a spy, and threatening to follow and film his every move while he was in Barnaul. He reported the attack to local police.

The Russian Union of Journalists said it was 'concerned by what happened to Grigory Pasko and will follow how the situation develops'.

Pasko also said that local police had arrived prior to his training session and recorded all participants' passport details on the pretext of 'checking for migrants'.

He said: 'We have never had such checks before, not since we started our training in 2009.' The case was highlighted by the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists.

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I do not understand the above comments by Jaker I am a New Zealander who lived and worked in Russia for many years, I have a Russian wife.I am sure he has never been to Russia. I have a Company in New Zealand that imports from Barnaul Patron Savot and sells there produce to the New Zealand Army. Putin is the best leader has ever had in History. He needs to go to Russia and see for himself.not pontificate with no real-world knowledge. Yan Yanovich

Ian Robertson, New Zealand

06/10/2016 07:53

Putin & Co have brought Russia to the dark ages. Putin is a warmonger & I hope one day he ends up in the Hague. Your Russian freedoms (whatever you have left) are being eroded by the day especially Journalists by his thugs. But even ordinary people are in that net...so I say once again to the people there, "Wake Up".

And regarding Syria, Russia i.e. Putin has created a graveyard for the civilians especially in Aleppo. Blowing up hospitals & water & gas mains. & Russian planes bombed two hospitals last night & others before. It is truly shameful.
And as long as these crimes mount up I'll keep writing about it, I mightn't have guns to shoot with or planes to bomb with, but I have words to throw in your direction even if sometimes I am censored. These comments are not meant towards the Russian/Siberian people just the echelons on high.

Jaker, Dundalk

29/09/2016 01:32