Although incitement to murder is illegal under Russian law, journalists, human rights activists and liberal politicians are regularly menaced by self-styled patriotic groups which combine anti-Semitism with hatred of foreigners.
Svetlana Gannuskina, head of an organisation that helps refugees, recently found her own name on a list of 89 people published on a site run by a nebulous organisation called Russian Will. "The time for physical reprisal has come," read an accompanying message: "Mr Mauser [a make of pistol], over to you."
A friend and admirer of Politkovskaya, Gannuskina says she submitted an official complaint about Russian Will's threat to the state prosecutor's office, but nothing was done. She remains defiantly philosophical about the risk to her life: "As I can't do anything about this situation, I try to ignore it." 
