Body Found in Berlin Believed to Be Russian Artist's

BERLIN—Berlin police pulled a body from a lock system on the Spree River yesterday that they believe to be that of Russian artist and dissident Anna Mikhalchuk, who disappeared from her apartment three weeks ago.

Authorities said there was no evidence that Mikhalchuk was the victim of a crime, and that she probably killed herself. Her identity and cause of death will be confirmed with an autopsy.

Mikhalchuk, who was charged with inciting religious hatred in Moscow in 2003 and later cleared, had been living with her husband, Mikhail Ryklin, a philosopher and political critic, since last year. After she vanished from their apartment on March 21, Ryklin, an outspoken critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, wrote a letter to the Berlin police warning that Russian dissidents aren't safe in Germany.