A Channel One television reporter said he was shot in the shoulder by an unidentified gunman outside his apartment building last week in an attack that might be linked to a book he is writing about the 1990s aluminum wars.
Andrei Kalitin, 37, said he was shot at around 9 p.m. Wednesday in the courtyard of 4 Vysokaya Ulitsa in southern Moscow, Kommersant reported Friday. The attacker fired a shingle shot with a gun equipped with a silencer, Kalitin told the newspaper. He said the attacker's face was obscured by a baseball cap.
Kalitin sought treatment at a hospital and was released shortly afterward at his own request. He reported the shooting to the police the next day.
Kalitin speculated that the attack might be connected to his years-long investigation into the murky aluminum industry of the 1990s, including scandals surrounding former metals tycoon Mikhail Chyorny, who now lives in Israel, Izvestia reported. Chyorny's spokesman declined comment, the report said.
Kalitin's book, titled "Mafia in Black," is to be released in August.
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists urged police to thoroughly investigate last week's attack.
"We are deeply concerned about the safety of Andrei Kalitin, who had worked on sensitive issues prior to the attack," Joel Simon, CPJ's executive director, said in a statement.
Kalitin is a reporter for Channel One's investigative journalism program "Spetsrassledovaniye," or "Special Investigation," a position he has held since last year. Before that he worked as a television reporter for the television program "Sovershenno Sekretno," or "Top Secret."
