‘Negligible’
From a BBC story on the funeral of murdered Russian journo Anna Politkovskaya:
“We are deeply shocked by this murder. Anna embodied the best qualities of a real journalist; there was a lot of respect for her both in Russia and abroad,” said the American ambassador to Moscow, William Burns, as he stood by Anna Politkovskaya’s coffin.
But top-level Russian officials were nowhere to be seen. Their answer came later when President Putin, speaking in Germany, described Anna Politkovskaya’s influence in Russia as “negligible”.
He even hinted the murder might have been a plot by Moscow’s enemies – who, he said, were prepared to “sacrifice people” to tarnish the Russian state in the eyes of the outside world.