Yuri Shchekochikhin

Yuri Shchekochikhin

Yuri Petrovich Shchekochikhin (Russian: Ю́рий Петро́вич Щекочи́хин) (9 June 1950, Kirovabad - 3 July 2003, Moscow) was a Russian investigative journalist, writer, and liberal lawmaker of Russian parliament. Shchekochikhin made his name writing about and campaigning against the influence of organized crime and corruption. His last non-fiction book was about people who worked as KGB informers.

A journalist of opposition newspaper Novaya Gazeta, he investigated Russian apartment bombings allegedly directed by the Russian secret services and Three Whales Corruption Scandal which involved high-rank FSB officers and was related to money laundering through the Bank of New York.

He died suddenly in July 2003 from a mysterious illness, just a few days before his scheduled departure to the United States where he planned to meet with FBI investigators. His medical documents ended up "classified" by the Russian authorities. The symptoms of his illness fit pattern of poisoning by radioactive materials and were similar to the symptoms of Nikolai Khokhlov, Roman Tsepov, and Alexander Litvinenko. According to then alive Litvinenko and news reports, the death of Yuri Shchekochikhin was a politically motivated assassination