MOSCOW, June 14 - RAPSI. Novaya Gazeta Chief Editor Dmitry Muratov has negatively assessed statements made by Investigative Committee head Alexander Bastrykin over a conflict with the investigative reporter Sergey Sokolov.

Earlier, Bastrykin refuted Muratov's claims that he brought the reporter to a forest and then threatened him. Russia's top investigator said the conflict with the newspaper began after Sokolov wrote an article about the committee's investigation into the notorious Tsapka gang case. The gang's members have been accused of committing mass murder in in the southern town of Kushchovksya.

Bastrykin said he responded harshly to a rude apology made by Sokolov.

"He said, okay, I apologize, but I will prove you are liars and you sold yourselves to Tsapkas," Bastrykin said. "How could I respond? I did this in a harsh manner in front of journalists, whom I invited around myself. However, I still believe that Novaya Gazeta acted in a foul manner, having accused the committee of selling itself to the Tsapka murderers."

"There has not been an investigation," he added. "There was only the letter from the Novaya Gazeta chief editor, which mixed facts and lies. Ironically, I received these messages after the Investigative Committee's searches with the leaders of the non-systematic opposition."

On June 13, Muratov demanded security guarantees from Bastrykin for the newspaper's journalists following the conflict between Bastrykin and Sokolov.

Muratov wrote in an open letter in Novaya Gazeta on Wednesday that Bastrykin invited the newspaper's deputy chief editor for a trip to the North Caucasus. The two men then entered into a verbal altercation.

When Sokolov returned to Moscow by plane, he was thrown into a car by guards and taken to a forest in the Moscow region where Bastrykin proceeded to threaten him.

Muratov added that Sokolov left the country for security reasons.