Ukraine, director of Radio Radicale: “Russo died for commitment in Chechnya, world now discovers Putin?”

Since the war broke out on the borders of Europe, “I have thought a lot about Antonio Russo, his information work would have been useful in these days”. This was stated at Adnkronos by Alessio Falconio, director of Radio Radicale, speaking of the journalist killed over 20 years ago in Georgia, an independent soul with “extraordinary human wealth”. He who knows if the reporter of Radio Radicale, always at the forefront of the hot fronts, would have chosen once again to tell closely the drama that is unfolding in these hours in Ukraine. “He was not unconscious, he was very aware of the risk he ran – says Falconio – He reached the riskiest areas. And he never lived in hotels but in the homes of the people he told about. He touched suffering, ambitions, frustrations, dreams. . this is his approach “. That is, “to be close”, never far away. “Antonio was not a radical journalist but a radical journalist and he paid for the fact that he had committed himself to a war – which pitted Russia and Chechen rebels against each other – which no one in the West was dealing with, either from a journalistic point of view or from the political one. He was killed and up to now the truth about his death has not been reached “, says the director of Radio Radicale. “The risk you pay with your commitment to political militancy, which also means providing information, in places where life is worth less, is always high”, adds Falconio. “Does the world discover Putin today? Perhaps because today it can no longer pretend not to see.” death not of natural causes in Russia and in the areas of the former Soviet empire. I want to remember that Marco Pannella, despite being ill, was the only Western politician to have gone to the funeral of the Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya “. A long list that excludes Antonio Russo even if there is no lack of correlations with Russia. The correspondent of Radio Radicale died on October 16, 2000, his body was found with clear signs of torture. He was 40 years old. “A few days earlier – recalls Falconio – he had taken part in a Green Congress in Georgia, highlighting in that meeting that he had found elements that proved the use of unconventional weapons by the Russian army in the war in Chechnya. Then his The body was found on the side of the road that led from Tbilisi to Gombori. His home in Tbilisi was found open and upside down. The investigations, both Italian and Georgian, came to nothing “. “The death of Antonio Russo – Falconio reconstructs – comes in the days when there was a Russian request for the expulsion of the Transnational Radical Party from Ecosoc, because the party – second category NGO of the UN body – had given the floor to a exponent of the then Chechen opposition in exile. The request was then rejected by the UN. A coincidence? Surely this is an element that should not be overlooked “. The fact is, that still today the mystery reigns over the death of Antonio Russo.