Russia says reopens Klebnikov murder investigation

* Russia reopens Klebnikov murder investigation - detectives

* Detectives name key suspects

* Source says mastermind of murder still not clear

By Guy Faulconbridge

MOSCOW, July 3 (Reuters) - Russian detectives said on Friday they had reopened an investigation into the 2004 murder of a U.S. reporter just days after drawing criticism from the journalist's family for halting the probe.

The family of Paul Klebnikov, who was gunned down on a Moscow street five years ago, have called on President Barack Obama, who visits Moscow next week for talks with Russian leaders, to press Russia to bring his killers to justice. [ID:nLU483675]

Alexander Bastrykin, the head of the Prosecutor-General's main investigative unit, said the investigation had been restarted but gave no explanation for why it was halted.

"Yes, the investigation was halted, but now the case has been restarted and the timeframe for the case extended," Bastrykin was quoted as saying by Itar-Tass news agency. "We shall investigate the case and find the truth."

Klebnikov, editor of the Russian edition of Forbes magazine, was shot as he left his office in central Moscow on July 9, 2004. He later died of his injuries in a lift which stalled at a Moscow hospital.

The murder drew widespread condemnation but his killers -- and those who ordered the murder -- were still at large.

The trial of two men, Kazbek Dukuzov and Musa Vakhayev, who prosecutors said had carried out Klebnikov's murder collapsed in 2006 when a jury acquitted them. The two men always said they were innocent.

Russia ordered a retrial but it was halted in 2007 because Dukuzov could not be tracked down. Vakhayev has agreed not to leave the country.

Prosecutors said on Friday the two men were still suspects as was Dukuzov's brother, Magomed, and Khozh-Akhmed Nukhayev, a businessman and former Chechen separatist commander who prosecutors believe helped organise the murder.

"The investigation has found that the murder of Klebnikov was carried out by members of a criminal group which included the brothers Kazbek and Magomed Dukuzov, Musa Vakhayev, Khozh-Akhmed Nukhayev and others," a spokesman for the main investigations unit said.

Nukhayev was suspected of ordering the murder because of a critical book the Klebnikov wrote based on interviews with Nukhayev entitled "Conversations with a Barbarian."

A source close to the situation said that Nukhayev was no longer believed to be the ultimate mastermind of the murder. Nukhayev could not be reached for comment. (Editing by Matthew Jones)