Putin says reporter's murder was 'disgustingly cruel,' but plays down her significance

DRESDEN, Germany — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday denounced the murder of a journalist critical of the Kremlin as a "disgustingly cruel" crime that cannot go unpunished, but he also played down her influence as "very minor."

In his first public comments about Saturday's slaying of Anna Politkovskaya, Putin described the attack as a "disgustingly cruel crime which must not go unpunished, whoever committed it, and whatever motive they were pursuing."

At the same time, however, he questioned the power of her work, saying she was known in human rights circles and in the West but "the level of her influence on political life in Russia was very minor."

Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke about Politkovskaya's slaying, and she had stressed the necessity of a free press in democratic societies.

"It was again made clear by the Russian president that everything will be done to clear up this murder," she said. "I think this is very important and a necessary signal to make clear that the freedom of those who report and write is a very important attribute of countries in which democracy develops."

Putin had told President Bush in a phone conversation that authorities would do everything necessary to solve the case, the Kremlin said Monday.

Politkovskaya, a sharp critic of Putin and the conduct of Russia's war in Chechnya, was found shot to death at her Moscow apartment building in an apparent contract killing. Her death has sparked an international outcry about restrictions on press freedoms in Russia.

Politkovskaya had reported on abuses by forces of the Russian military and Moscow-backed government in Chechnya. Colleagues said she had been working on a story about torture and abductions in the Russian province, abuses she blamed on the Moscow-backed Chechen prime minister.

More than 1,000 mourners paid respects at Politkovskaya's funeral Tuesday outside Moscow. No high-ranking Kremlin or government official made an appearance, although U.S. Ambassador William Burns attended.

Members of a panel on press freedom at the Petersburg Dialogue forum that Putin and Merkel were to visit drafted an appeal to Russia's chief prosecutor to investigate the slaying.

Michael Rutz, editor of Germany's Rheinische Merkur newspaper, said Russian and German journalists were of one opinion: "On both sides we have the same feeling of the necessity of freedom, freedom for journalism and journalists."