Foreign media advise Medvedev to dismiss Kadyrov

The leading western media, while making comments on Natalia Estemirova's murder, express their concern that this not the first crime against human rights activists and critics of Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov and his Kremlin patrons.

The British Independent asserts that Estemirova's murder has naked the true and ugly face of modern Russia and reminded that digging down to the truth in this country is fatally dangerous.

Besides, Estemirova had a skill to convince victims and witnesses to evidence in court - "it is a great talent in the region where people tremble from fear of being requited by the authorities," the edition writes.

The New York Times adds that the murder of Natalia Estemirova, who was engaged in disclosing the cruelties of Ramzan Kadyrov's regime in Chechnya, bears an imprint of impunity, characteristic for many crimes committed in Putin's Russia.

The Wall Street Journal notes that anyone disliked by the Kremlin will inevitably face threats and risk for his or her life, especially when trying to make public the unpleasant facts about Chechnya, and reminds about the murders of Markelov and Politkovskaya. It is impossible to say for sure who is behind these murders, but it is obvious that the number of them has rapidly grown after 2007, when Ramzan Kadyrov, the Kremlin's protege and "Hero of Russia", became President of Chechnya, the paper adds.

The Guardian writes that the more murders like Estemirova's one are committed, the heavier burden is Kadyrov for the Kremlin; however, dismissing him will be more difficult than his Ingush counterpart Murat Zyazikov some time earlier, since the Chechen President is popular among the population. The edition believes that every western politician should now put the Chechen issue into the agenda of political relations with Russia, as it was done by German Chancellor Angela Merkel on the eve of her meeting with President Medvedev.

The German edition Der Standard remarks that Moscow keeps telling about law and order, but Estemirova's murder proves the opposite.

Le Figaro writes that the HRC "Memorial", where Estemirova worked, has registered over 3000 disappearances. Only one such case was opened - thanks to Anna Politkovskaya, who had told in the press about this crime, advocate Stanislav Markelov, who had achieved an unbelievable verdict, and Natalia Estemirova, who had collected the file. All of them are dead. They all were murdered, the paper quotes Alexander Cherkasov, a Board member of the "Memorial".

Sasha Kulaeva, Estemirova's colleague and friend, told in her interview to La Liberation: "Natalia's death is a real execution committed after numerous warnings. She told us about threats, and she was even forced to leave Grozny. Kadyrov insulted her publicly."

The Times writes that Russian authorities are obliged to prosecute those who kill human rights activists and marks that "so far, Russia's record in this sphere is shameful."

"Northern Caucasus turns into a tenement of lawlessness," the German Die Welt ascertains in an article and adds that Estemirova's murder has given rise to a wave of protest all over the world; and only Russia looks like being accustomed to manifestations of violence against those who dare being critical to the regime.