Netzwerk Recherche, a small German journalists' organization that promotes investigative journalism, singled out Putin for "hampering the development of free media" and allowing a "lack of results in the investigation into the murder of journalist Anna Politkovskaya."

Putin is the first non-German to receive the organization's negative prize.

In December 2006, the Paris-based nongovernmental organization Reporters Without Borders called attention to the extent to which the Russian government and state-run corporations have taken over the country's main electronic and print media, greatly limiting the amount of independent news and information available to the public.

Copyright (c) 2006. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org