Putin pledges probe of murder of Russian journalist

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday said the murder of a Russian journalist as "unacceptable," vowing to clear up the case and punish the murderer.

"We must be clear that it was a dreadful and unacceptable crime which cannot be allowed to go unpunished," Putin said at a joint news conference after meeting German Chancellor Angela Merkel in the eastern German city of Dresden.

In his first public comments on the murder, Putin said "this murder does much more harm to Russia and Chechnya than any of her publications."

"The Russian president has again made it clear that everything will be done to clear up this murder," Merkel told reporters.

Putin arrived Tuesday in Dresden, where he served as a KGB agent in the 1980s, for a two-day visit which is expected to be dominated by energy and trade issues.

Anna Politkovskaya, the 48-year-old journalist who was critical of the Chechnya war, was shot dead in Moscow Saturday by an unidentified gunman in an apparent contract killing.

Source: Xinhua