Journalists working on Russian issues have a scary way of being found dead.

Journalists working on Russian issues have a scary way of being found dead. Some are shot down, like Anna Politkovskaya or the American Paul Klebnikov, and some are poisoned like Alexander Litvinenko. In Moscow, Ivan Safronov is the latest journalist to die, falling to his death from the fourth floor of his apartment building. Fell, or was pushed? Accident, or orders? Safronov was a well-informed defense correspondent for Kommersant, virtually the only newspaper that President Vladimir Putin has not yet muzzled. He was working on a story about missile sales to Syria. Trying to choke him off, Russian authorities were threatening Safronov with a criminal investigation, and he'd been telling colleagues of his fears. As the old KGB used to put it, any fool can commit a murder, but it takes an artist to commit a suicide.