DRESDEN, October 10 (RIA Novosti) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday he would see to it that a thorough inquiry is carried out into the recent murder of a prominent investigative journalist.

Speaking to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Putin described the killing of Anna Politkovskaya as an "abominable crime," and said he would do his best to bring those behind it to justice.

"Whoever committed the crime and whatever motives those people were guided by, this is a crime abominable in its cruelty, and it must not go unpunished," Putin said.

Politkovskaya, 48, known for her staunch criticism of Russia's military campaign in Chechnya, was gunned down in her apartment block in Moscow last Saturday.

The Russian Prosecutor General is overseeing an official investigation, with the main theory linking the murder to the journalist's work.

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