The American editor of Forbesmagazine's Russian edition and author of a book about tycoon Mr Boris Berezovsky has been shot dead in Moscow.
Paul Klebnikov (41), was shot four times outside the magazine's office and died in a emergency vehicle yesterday.
Police could not be reached for comment, but the killing was confirmed in a statement by Forbespublisher Mr Steve Forbes. "Paul was a superb reporter - courageous, dedicated, ever-curious," the statement said. "He knew Russia well. It was a country he deeply loved."
Mr Alexander Gordeyev, editor of the Russian edition of Newsweekmagazine, which has offices in the same building, said he went to Mr Klebnikov's side as he lay outside the building.
He was still conscious and able to speak, "but he couldn't say anything about what could have been the cause of the attack," Mr Gordeyev said.
The Interfax news agency quoted Mr Leonid Bershidsky, the publisher of Russian Forbesand Newsweek, as saying that Mr Klebnikov recently "had not dug up anything sensitive."
Forbesstarted its Russian-language edition in April.
Mr Klebnikov, US-born of Russian heritage, previously had been a senior editor with the US-based Forbes.
In May, the magazine attracted wide attention by publishing a list of Russia 's wealthiest people, claiming that Moscow had more billionaires who worked there or amassed their fortunes there than any other city in the world.
"Here people fly and fall with staggering speed," Mr Klebnikov said at a news conference when the list was released.
His 2000 book Godfather of the Kremlin: Boris Berezovsky and the Looting of Russiadescribed how Mr Berezovsky, now living in exile in Britain, allegedly siphoned hundreds of millions of dollars out of Russia .
After Mr Klebnikov wrote a profile of Mr Berezovsky for Forbesin 1996, Mr Berezovsky filed a libel suit against the magazine in Britain.