Russia detains two over Politkovskaya murder

Russia has been accused of doing to little to solve a series of killings of rights activists and journalists in recent years including the 2006 killing of reporter Anna Politkovskaya.

Moscow's Basmanny Court was due on Thursday to rule on extending the detention of the two suspects in the killing of lawyer Stanislav Markelov and a journalist who was walking with him, said court spokeswoman Anna Usachyova.

Markelov, who fought against the early release of a former Russian tank commander imprisoned for the murder of a Chechen girl, was shot dead in January not far from the Kremlin. Anastasia Baburova, a reporter for the opposition Novaya Gazeta newspaper, was killed with a shot to the head.

"Material has been received by the Basmanny Court about the detention of Yevgeniya Khasis and Nikita Tikhonov, who are accused of the crime," Usachyova said.

Usachyova did not say exactly what roles the pair were accused of playing in the murders. Lawyers for Khasis and Tikhonov could not be immediately reached for comment.

Law enforcement sources cited by the Kommersant newspaper and Interfax news agency said that the pair were former members of the Russian National Unity ultranationalist group. (Writing by Conor Humphries; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)