In 2004, the name of the journalist Paul Khlebnikov went around all the publishing houses of the world. The brutal murder of a publicist and an American citizen shocked many. Even after years, the case remains unsolved and raises many questions.
A family
The Khlebnikovs ended up in America in 1918 for political reasons. Paul's great-great-grandfather, Admiral Arkady Nebolsin, traveled around the world, fought in the Russo-Japanese War. He died in the February Revolution from the bullet of an insurgent sailor. Paul's grandfather served in the Imperial Regiment, took part in the battles of the First World War and the Civil War. Grandmother was the granddaughter of Ivan Pushchin, a Decembrist, a friend of Pushkin. Already in the United States, he headed the Russian Children's Charity Society. The father of the future journalist worked at the UN, headed the service of simultaneous interpreters. Paul, better known as Paul, was born in 1963 in New York. Despite emigration, the family retained love for their homeland and honored the traditions of Orthodoxy.
Education
In 1984, Paul graduated from the University of Berkeley with a degree in political economy. A year later, at the London School of Economics and Politics, the young man defended his dissertation and received a master's degree. The topic of his work was the personnel policy of the CPSU during the Soviet era. After defending his scientific work on Stolypin's agrarian reform, Khlebnikov was awarded the degree of Doctor of Political Science.
Journalism
Paul began his career as a correspondent for Forbes magazine. His knowledge of five languages helped him analyze the work of international companies. Since the 1990s, his main specialization has become “new” Russian business. This allowed Khlebnikov to take the place of senior editor. It so happened that the main occupation of the journalist was literary activity, the books turned out to be bright and scandalous.
In 2004, Paul created the Russian version of Forbes and headed the editorial staff of the magazine in Russia. In the same year, the publication published a list of the richest Russians, and its head became a participant in the television program Namedni.
Books
On the eve of 1997, the magazine published an article by Paul entitled "The Godfather of the Kremlin?" The author has made a number of weighty accusations against Boris Berezovsky. It was about fraud, connections with the Chechen mafia and murders, the loudest of which is the case of Vlad Listyev. Boris Abramovich in the judicial authorities demanded compensation and refutation of the article. The London court dismissed all claims. Moreover, three years later, Khlebnikov published a whole book dedicated to the Russian oligarch. The work became popular, it was translated into several languages at once and published in a number of European countries.
In 2003, Paul's new work, entitled "A Conversation with a Barbarian," was published, which was a reflection of the journalist's many hours of conversation with Khozh-Akhmed Nukhaev. The field commander in a private conversation shared his views on Islam, spoke about gangster activities in the 90s and the origins of modern terrorism.
Murder
In the early 2000s, Paul felt absolutely happy: he was doing what he loved, order reigned in his personal life. His wife was Helen Train, the daughter of a famous American financier. The happy couple had three children growing up.
On July 9, 2004, an event took place that cut short the life of a talented journalist and writer. On that day, Khlebnikov was shot dead on the doorstep of the Moscow office from a nearby car. Seriously wounded, he still managed to report that he did not know the shooters and the reasons for the attempt. Paul died on the way to intensive care.
The investigation put forward two versions. According to one of them, Boris Berezovsky was called the customer of the murder. There were eyewitnesses who testified that, having learned about the presentation in the United States of the book "The History of the Plunder of Russia", he said that this case would not leave. The second, main version of the murder had a Chechen trace. It was assumed that the murder could be revenge of the criminal authorities of Chechnya for the facts set forth in one of the journalist's books.
The case concerning the murder of Paul Khlebnikov has not been completed. His biography ended in a country that he truly loved and where he had been striving so much all his life.
