Meanwhile, here in this country, an outspoken critic of the Kremlin named Paul Joyal was shot and injured Thursday outside his home in Maryland. The shooting occurred four days after Joyal appeared on Dateline NBC and accused Russian agents of being involved in the radiation poisoning of the former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko. On the program, Joyal said a “message has been communicated to anyone who wants to speak out against the Kremlin: If you do, no matter who you are, where you are, we will find you and we will silence you in the most horrible way possible.” Another person who appeared on the same Dateline NBC program, the journalist Daniel McGrory of The Times of London, died in London two weeks ago. At the time, MSNBC reported that the cause of death was a heart attack. Last week, the new U.S. national intelligence director, Mike McConnell, criticized the state of affairs in Russia. His comments came during questioning by Republican Senator John Warner.

Mike McConnell: “And what I’ve learned so far is the march to democracy has taken a back step. And now” —

Sen. Warner: “In Russia.”

McConnell: “In Russia.”

Sen. Warner: “Regrettably.”

McConnell: “There’s more arrangements to control the process and the populace and the parties and so on, to the point of picking the next leader of Russia. Don’t know that that’s been done with 100 percent assurity, but, in fact, we are seeing behavior that would take them down that path. They’re doing a few things.”