KIEV: Ukraine’s security agency said on Satur­day it has arrested a Russian man wanted by Interpol over the 2004 murder of American journalist Paul Khlebnikov.

The suspect, originally from Chechnya, was arrested in Kiev.

“According to Interpol, the foreigner participated in a series of sponsored murders, in particular that of Forbes’ editor-in-chief, the US citizen Paul Khlebnikov,” as well as a Chechnyan government official, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said in a statement.

Khlebnikov, aged 41, was head of the Russian edition of Forbes when he was shot dead in Moscow in July 2004.

He had been working for the magazine for almost 15 years, in which time he had published multiple investigations in to Russian businessman and controversial privatisations in the country.

According to the SBU, the suspect had fled Russia and belonged to a criminal group in Ukraine that extorted funds from entrepreneurs.

Published in Dawn, November 19th, 2017