PARIS, Oct 27 (Reuters) - Journalists covering the Chechnya conflict or working in other areas of Russia face an increasing threat of violence, two leading human rights group said on Friday.
Paris-based Reporters sans Frontieres and New York-based Human Rights Watch, in a joint letter to French President Jacques Chirac, said six journalists working in Russia or republics of the former Soviet Union had been killed this year.
They did not directly blame Russia for the deaths, but asked Chirac to bring up the matter when Russian President Vladimir Putin visits France next week.
"We would like you to remind the Russian head of state that threats (against journalists) are incompatible with Russia's commitments as a democracy and European power," they wrote.
The groups said Italian journalist Antonio Russo, who covered Chechnya from Georgia, was found dead by a roadside near Tblisi on October 16 and another journalist, Alexander Yefremov, was killed by a remote-controlled explosion in Chechnya on May 12.
Radio Liberty journalist Iskander Khationi was found battered to death on September 21, but no link has yet been made between his killing and his investigations into human rights abuses in Chechnya, the letter said.
The three other journalists killed were Sergei Ivanov, shot to death in Samara on October 3, Sergei Novikov, shot in Smolensk on July 26, and Igor Domnekov, killed on July 16, the letter said. The human rights groups did not link their deaths to the Chechnya situation.
The letter said two journalists engaged in investigative reporting about corruption among high-ranking officials were injured by beatings this year.
Two others who covered Chechnya were beaten and, or arrested by Russian troops, said the letter, adding that dozens of journalists suffered similar treatment in the past.
"It is Mr Putin's responsibility to intervene personally to halt the general deterioration of working conditions for journalists in Russia. It is the responsibility of the European Union to remind him of this," the letter said.
