DAR AL HARB - RUSSIA / NEO-SOVIETS: A REPORTED IS DEAD & THE SALE OF ISKANDER MISSILES TO IRAN & SYRIA VIA BELARUS

Russian reporter was warned off
Journalist researching arms sale to Iran, Syria

MOSCOW // A journalist who plunged to his death from his apartment building window faced threats while reporting on a highly sensitive story that Russia planned to sell sophisticated missiles to Syria and Iran, his newspaper reported yesterday.

Ivan Safronov, a military affairs writer for the daily Kommersant, died Friday after plunging from a stairwell window between the fourth and fifth stories.

Kommersant reported yesterday that Safronov had told his editors he was working on a story about Russian plans to sell weapons to Iran and Syria via Belarus.

The deals, if concluded, could upset the balance of power in the Middle East and strain Russia's relations with Israel and the United States, which have strongly objected to earlier Russian weapons sales to the two countries.

Kommersant reported that Safronov had recently told colleagues he was warned that he would face a criminal investigation for possibly revealing state secrets if he reported allegations that Russia had struck a deal to supply Iskander missiles to Syria.

"Ivan Safronov said he was not going to write about it for a while because he was warned that it would create a huge international scandal and the FSB [Federal Security Service] would launch a criminal case on charges of breaching state secrets," the newspaper said.

Safronov did not say where the warning came from, according to Kommersant, but he had repeatedly been questioned by the FSB - the KGB's main successor agency - which suspected him of divulging state secrets.

A spokeswoman for state arms trading monopoly Rosoboronexport refused to comment on the Kommersant report.

Independent analyst Pavel Felgenhauer, who knew Safronov and met with him shortly before his death, said deals with Iran and Syria would be sensitive enough to lead to Safronov's killing.

"It's quite probable that such deals have been signed, and it's also probable that he [Safronov] was killed because of that," Felgenhauer said.

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Prior Post concerning this story:

1) Report: Russian journalist who died in fall investigated weapons deals with Iran, Syria

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1) Russian reporter was warned off