DAVID NOWAK MOSCOW Russian investigators yesterday named the man they suspect of killing journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who was gunned down in Moscow in 2006.

DAVID NOWAK
MOSCOW

Russian investigators yesterday named the man they suspect of killing journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who was gunned down in Moscow in 2006.

The Investigative Committee, which probes such crimes, said Rustam Makhmudov was "the immediate executor of the murder", adding in a statement that he remained at large.

Makhmudov, 34, a resident of Chechnya, has been charged and an international arrest warrant has been issued for him, it said.

Politkovskaya was shot dead in the stairwell of her central Moscow apartment building in October 2006. Many observers and colleagues believe her murder was linked to her work.

The 48-year-old mother of two won international fame by documenting human rights abuses by Russian security forces in Chechnya and the North Caucasus.

Nine people have been charged with involvement in her murder. Two suspects, Magomed Dimelkhanov and Dmitry Grachyov, have been released on condition they stay in the country because, according to the committee, they had given all the evidence possible and did not pull the trigger.

The release of Dimelkhanov and Grachyov appeared to raise eyebrows at the Prosecutor General's Office, which said the Investigative Committee had "broken routine practice" by failing to notify it.

The Investigative Committee added that other suspects could be released soon.

Among the detained suspects are three other Makhmudovs reported to be brothers of Rustam - Tamerlan, Dzhabrail and Ibragim.

Politkovskaya's former colleagues at the twice-weekly newspaper Novaya Gazeta, which is running a parallel inquiry, have criticised authorities for deliberately undermining the investigation by releasing details of the case before it reaches court.

Russian officials have alleged that Politkovskaya's killing was ordered by someone living outside Russia with the aim of discrediting the Kremlin.

These statements that have been interpreted as an allusion to Boris Berezovsky, a former Kremlin insider who now lives in London and is a fierce Putin critic.

Berezovsky, who is wanted in Russia on embezzlement and other charges, all of which he denies, has said he had nothing to do with Politkovskaya's death. Novaya Gazeta investigators have said the mastermind is probably in Russia.

Prosecutors in March told a court they knew the identity of her killer, but did not name him at the time. Critics said it was a move to keep one of the accused - Colonel Pavel Ryaguzov of the Federal Security Service (FSB) - in prison.

Political and bureaucratic reshuffling at the offices of the prosecutor general and the criminal investigation committee since last October, when 11 men were accused, have led some to say the government is dragging its feet in the case.-AP