Russian authorities say the chief editor of a newspaper in the Siberian city of Minusinsk has been shot dead in a killing they believe may be connected to his work.

The Investigative Committee branch in Krasnoyarsk Krai said on May 25 that Dmitry Popkov's body was found with multiple gunshot wounds in a bathhouse outside a home in Minusinsk at about 11 p.m. local time on May 24.

Committee spokeswoman Olga Degid said it was the journalist's own home.

Investigators have opened a murder investigation and are looking into several possible motives including a link to the victim's "professional activities," the committee said. It gave no details.

Popkov, 42, was the chief editor of Ton-M newspaper.

Media rights groups say journalists who fall afoul of national or local authorities in Russia run the risk of being attacked, and the perpetrators or those behind them are rarely brought to justice.

At least 57 journalists have been killed in Russia since 1992, including 37 who were targeted for murder, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists.

Reporters without Borders ranks Russia 148th in the world for media freedom.

With reporting by AFP, TASS, and Interfax

