‘Godfather of the Kremlin’ author shot to death

MOSCOW — Paul Klebnikov, the editor of Forbes Magazine’s Russian edition and author of a book about tycoon Boris Berezovsky, was shot and killed late Friday near his Moscow office, Russian news reports said.

The reports cited Moscow police as saying Klebnikov suffered four pistol shots and died in a rescue-squad vehicle. The radio station Ekho Moskvy said shells of two different calibers were found at the scene, indicating at least two attackers.

Police and Forbes officials could not immediately be reached for confirmation.

Forbes started its Russian-language edition in April. Klebnikov, U.S.-born of Russian heritage, previously had been a senior editor with the U.S.-based Forbes.

In May, the magazine attracted wide attention by publishing a list of Russia’s wealthiest people, claiming that Moscow had more billionaires who worked there or amassed their fortunes there than any other city in the world.

“Here people fly and fall with staggering speed,” Klebnikov said at a news conference when the list was released.

His 2000 book “Godfather of the Kremlin: Boris Berezovsky and the Looting of Russia” described how Berezovsky, now living in exile in Britain, allegedly siphoned hundreds of millions of dollars out of Russia.

After Klebnikov wrote a profile of Berezovsky for Forbes in 1996, Berezovsky filed a libel suit against the magazine in Britain.

The tycoon withdrew the suit in 2003 after the publication acknowledged it was wrong to allege he was involved in the murder of a television personality.