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Russian journalist reported threat

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published March 7, 2007

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 Tuesday.

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

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

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.

[Last modified March 7, 2007, 01:05:43]