Antonio Russo (3 June 1960 – 16 October 2000) was an Italian journalist and Vice-President of the International Press Free lance (FLIP),[1] He was murdered while covering the Second Chechen War.

On that occasion, he was also the protagonist of a daring escape from the Serbian forces, joining a convoy of refugees from Kosovo with a direct train to Macedonia.

Russo also intended to interview Vera Putina, a woman who claimed Vladimir Putin was her lost son.

[9][10][11] Russo was also investigating the Russian request for the United Nations to expel the Radical Party, accused of meddling in the war in Chechnya.

Russo's apartment had been searched and looted; his laptop computer, mobile telephone, video camera, and three videotapes were missing.

According to his mother, Beatrice, Russo told her in a phone call before his death that he came into possession of a videotape documenting war crimes in Chechnya.