Yelena Tregubova

Infobox Writer
name = Yelena Tregubova


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birthname = Yelena Viktorovna Tregubova
birthdate = Birth date and age|1973|05|24
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occupation = Journalist, author
nationality = Russian
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alma_mater = Moscow State University
period = 1997–present
genre =
subject = Politics, free speech, censorship
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notableworks = "Tales of a Kremlin Digger" (2003)
"Farewell of the Kremlin Digger" (2004)
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partner =
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Yelena Viktorovna Tregubova ( _ru. Елена Викторовна Трегубова) (born May 24, 1973) is a Russian journalist, a critic of the president Vladimir Putin and his environment.

Biography

Tregubova studied journalism at Moscow State University in the 1990s. She started her career as a journalist with the newspaper "Nezavisimaya Gazeta".Between 1997 and 2001, Tregubova was a member of the Kremlin press pool, reporting for the independent Moscow dailies "Kommersant", "Izvestia", and "Russky Telegraf". The members of this "Kremlin Pool" are reporters who cover the work of Russian presidents (Boris Yeltsin and later Vladimir Putin) for television and major newspapers. During this time she interviewed many top members of Kremlin's administration, including Putin, Alexander Voloshin and Anatoliy Chubais.

Conflict with Kremlin administration

Tregubova's reporting often irritated Kremlin administration, which resulted in sanctions. Alexey Gromov, a press-secretary of Putin, often did not allow her to visit official briefings, where all other correspondents were present. According to her book, "Tales of a Kremlin Digger", Gromov said that was a directive of Putin, and Putin was especially furious when she asked him about his relations with Boris Berezovsky, who started criticizing Putin's "Power vertical" in May 2000. She described her conversation with Gromov when he criticized her newspaper "Kommersant" for reprinting negative materials about Putin's policies from Western newspapers. He asked her: "Are you going to blame Putin of stiffing independent media when we start the dekulakization of Berezovsky?""The tales of a Kremlin digger" (Russian edition), ISBN 5-93321-073-0, pages 332-335 ]

In the end of 2000, Tregubova was replaced in the Kremlin press pool by another correspondent. "Kommersant" Editor-in-Chief Andrey Vasiliev gave in to the pressure from Kremlin "The tales of a Kremlin digger" (Russian edition), ISBN 5-93321-073-0, pages 358-359 ] ru icon [http://www.kommersant.ru/doc.html?docsid=611420 Truth about Andrey Kolesnikov] by Andrey Vasiliev]

Murder attempt

In February 2004, four months after the publication of "Tales of a Kremlin Digger", Tregubova received a telephone call from a man claiming to be a Sheremetyevo International Airport employee. He told her that he had a package for her and asked for her delivery address. When she declined to provide it and asked from what telephone number he was calling, he hung up. On February 2, 2004, a bomb exploded outside the door to her Moscow apartment. No one was injured and officials claimed it to be "an act of hooliganism". [ [http://www.cpj.org/news/2004/Russia02feb04na.html Explosion Rocks Home of Journalist] ] [ [http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2007/jun/26/pressandpublishing.russia Journalism is my only weapon] ]

Books

"Tales of a Kremlin Digger"

Tregubova's best-selling book "Tales of a Kremlin Digger", published in October 2003, describes her experiences as a Kremlin correspondent and criticizes the customs of the Russian political elite. In particular, she criticizes the Putin administration for state control of the media. She condemns Putin's regime for its authoritarian tendencies and attacks on free speech and censorship. Some critics noted that her judgement of Russian politicians is subjective, and the book is highly opinionated. [http://www.exile.ru/182/182010101.html Censorship in Russia: Revenge of the Disenfranchised] by Mark Ames, The eXile]

"Tales of a Kremlin Digger" annoyed the Kremlin. After the book appeared, Tregubova lost her job as a correspondent for "Kommersant". In November 2003, an interview with her was pulled from broadcast by NTV, a channel once renowned for its critical reporting. The segment was yanked after it had already aired in Eastern time zones of the Russian Federation.

"Farewell of the Kremlin Digger"

In her second book "Farewell of the Kremlin Digger" (2004), Tregubova writes on the Kremlin’s attempts to stop the first book from reaching the reader, and on the attempt on her life.

Publications abroad

The Italian translation of "Tales of a Kremlin Digger" ("I mutanti del Cremlino") came out in 2005 at the publishing house Piemme. The German publishing house Tropen Verlag released the book in German ("Die Mutanten des Kremls") in October 2006. [ [http://mytech.eprice.it/default.aspx?sku=1013116 MYTECH Shopping ] ] [ [http://www.perlentaucher.de/artikel/3350.html Perlentaucher - Ingeborg Ermer: Elena Tregubova: Die Mutanten des Kreml ] ]

Tregubova raised her profile in Germany in connection with the October 7, 2006 murder of the Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya. On October 12, 2006, the German newspaper "Zeit" published a letter from Tregubova entitled "Silence is partnership", addressed to German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Tregubova demanded that the Merkel actively oppose the suppression of press freedom in Russia. [de icon [http://www.zeit.de/2006/42/Offener_Brief Nicht schweigen!: Aufruf der russischen Journalistin Tregubowa an Merkel | ZEIT online ] ]

Tregubova's books have not yet been translated into English.

Political asylum

On April 23, 2007, Trebugova filed an application for political asylum to Britain's Home Office, claiming her life was in "mortal danger" in Russia. On April 2, 2008, she told Reuters that the request had been granted. [ [http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/04/25/europe/EU-GEN-Russia-Britain-Journalist.php Russian reporter who wrote critical book about Putin asks for political asylum in Britain] The International Herald Tribune April 25, 2007 ] [ [http://comment.independent.co.uk/commentators/article2614548.ece Yelena Tregubova: Why I fled Putin's Russia. And why the West must appease him no longer] ] [ [http://uk.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUKL0121293220080402 Kremlin critic says Britain has granted her asylum] ]

Bibliography

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Notes

External links

* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3227666.stm BBC News reports]
* [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A51587-2005Feb24.html Washington Post on freedom of speech in Russia]
* [http://www.moscowtimes.ru/stories/2004/05/17/008.html Moscow Times reports on Tregubova’s Tales]
* [http://www.indexonline.org/en/indexindex/articles/2004/2/russia-bomb-attack.shtml Bomb attack on ex-Kremlin press pool journalist]
* [http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=5259 Asia Media: Book prompts angry reaction from Kremlin]
* [http://www.sptimes.ru/index.php?action_id=2&story_id=11547 Former Kremlin Digger Dishes the Dirt]
* [http://www.sptimes.ru/index.php?action_id=2&story_id=12164 Bomb Blast Near «Digger»]
* [http://www.exile.ru/2003-December-25/book_review.html Tales of a Kremlin Digger]
* [http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/summary_0199-1293552_ITM Kremlin Digger: tabloid book may have sparked Kremlin ire.(notebook)(Tales of a Kremlin Digger by Yelena Tregubova)(Brief Article)]
* [http://www.rusnet.nl/news/2003/11/19/print/report02.shtml Anger in Kremlin as "digger" reveals Putin secrets]