GQ Buries Story on 'Putin's Dark Rise to Power'

GQ is keeping a tight lid on one of its own articles that questions the Russian government’s involvement in the 1999 bombings that catapulted Vladimir Putin to power, NPR reports. GQ owner Condé Nast operates in Russia, where dissent is often met with crippling “audits.” So management decided the issue containing "Vladimir Putin’s Dark Rise to Power,” by Scott Anderson, would not see the light of day in that country.

In addition, no reference to the article appears on the cover of this month’s issue, and no sign of it appears on the web. Anderson contacted a former KGB agent who had investigated the bombings, allegedly by Chechen terrorists, and was promptly jailed for 4 years. “Now he's out—he's certainly kind of walking around with a bullseye on his back—and yet is still willing to tell the story,” Anderson says. “It’s kind of sad.” He’s declined GQ requests to not publish after copyright reverts to him. (More Conde Nast stories.)