ABC News Now Banned in Russia

[Guest BlackJesus]

[img]http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2005/WORLD/europe/08/02/russia.abc.reut/vstory.shamil.basayevafp.jpg[/img]
[u]Basayev interview: Russia bars ABC
August 2, 2005
CNN[/u]


MOSCOW, Russia (Reuters) -- Moscow is barring journalists from U.S. television channel ABC from working in Russia after the channel broadcast an interview with Chechen rebel leader Shamil Basayev, the Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.

Accreditations for ABC's reporters would not be renewed and, in the meantime, they would be banned from talking to Russian officials, it said.

Free speech advocates have repeatedly criticized President Vladimir Putin's government for restricting the Russian press, but this appeared to be the first action against a major Western media organization.

"ABC is now unwelcome to contact any Russian state organizations or bodies," a Foreign Ministry statement said.

It said broadcasting the Basayev interview "was a clear case of helping to propagandize terrorism" and accreditations for ABC workers would "not be renewed".

There was no immediate U.S. reaction, but one official, who asked not to be named, said banning ABC journalists "would obviously be a concern".

ABC was not immediately available for comment.

The U.S.-based Committee to Protect Journalists said: "This action reflects the Kremlin's growing intolerance of any kind of criticism, especially in regard to its actions in Chechnya."

CPJ Executive Director Ann Cooper's statement said Russia was "clearly trying to intimidate foreign journalists into censoring their news reporting on the war in Chechnya. We call on the (foreign) ministry to reverse its decision immediately."

Russia outraged
Russia was outraged by the interview with Basayev, who is its most wanted man and organized the bloodiest attacks of the 10-year Chechen war. Moscow summoned the U.S. envoy to complain after it was broadcast last week.

In the interview, Basayev admitted to being "a bad guy, a bandit, a terrorist" but said Russia was worse. He promised more attacks as long as the Chechen war continued.

The Foreign Ministry said it would also look into the legal status of journalist Andrei Babitsky, who conducted the interview, and would ask his employer Radio Liberty to explain why he was in Chechnya without accreditation.

Babitsky, whose reporting has been a thorn in the side of the Russian army in Chechnya, said the fierce reaction to the interview was prompted by shame over the authorities not being able to find Basayev themselves.

"The security services are embarrassed because they have spent vast sums over six years but they still can't catch Basayev, and here he is talking to a journalist... this shows how ineffectively they are working," said Babitsky.

He told Reuters by telephone: "This is fantastic, this just shows the state of free speech in Russia today."

Security services put a $10 million price on Basayev's head after the Beslan hostage siege when 330 people -- half of them children -- died, but have failed to catch the warlord.

Basayev has claimed responsibility for orchestrating the Beslan attack.

Journalists need special accreditation to visit Chechnya, and foreign news organizations must travel with armed guards.

[Guest BlackJesus]

[i][b]As someone who works with Seperatist organizations and movements I can tell you that although the Chechens enacted the hostage taking at Baslan which killed a few hundred kids.... Russia has put that total to shame in 1 day with aerial bombardment of Grozny, and firebombing Chechen villages indiscriminately. Russia is afraid of US coverage, because they know that the truth will get out how they have been raping chechnya and Killing at will for decades (The history goes back to when Stalin Deported the ENTIRE NATION of Chechnya to Siberia after WWII). Chechnya should be an independent state but guess why they aren't.... Oil. Russia wants control of the vass oil reserves in Chechnya. And Bushs invasion of Iraq, only makes it harder for him to rebuke indiscriminate killing By Putin in Chechnya because Putin just says look who's talking, we are both war mongers here. [/b][/i]

[Chris Henrys Dealer]

I agree with your take on Chechnya, the Russians have done some terrible human rights abuses there. But at the same time, you don't interview Basayev. The guy is psychotic, and a straight up thug. A lot of the Chechen "rebels" pose under the freedom banner, but use it to justify kidnappings, violence, etc, for money and at the end of the day are just criminal organizations. Dudes like Arby Barayev, Basayev here, his deceased Arab right hand man Khattab.

There were real Chechen freedom fighters out there to interview. Dudes like Salman Raduyev (incarcerated) and current leader Abdul-Khalim Saydullayev, who replaced the deceased Mashkadov.

This would be like some foreign network going into Iraq to interview people opposed to the US forces there. You could interview someone like Moqtada Al-Sadr who at least represents and speaks for a large number of Iraqi people, but the crew instead chooses to interview Zarqawi. Who only speaks for a radical faction and isn't averse to terrorising his own people if it suits him.

Basayev is exactly the same. Beslan, the attack of the hospital in Dagestan where patients were killed, and he terrorises his own people if they don't fall into line. I think Basayev at one point probably did want Chechen freedom and believed in the cause. When his people elected Mashkhadov to the leadership instead of him, he flipped out and went extreme and postal. If there were free elections in Chechnya right now, no way does he win. Your average Chechen hates him almost as much as they hate the Russians. He represents a small extreme faction and I don't think is a good representative voice for the Chechen people.

In this case, I think Russia has full rights to be pissed.

[Guest BlackJesus]

[color="red"]Most Sides in War are Barbaric... and usually ones perception of who is more is in reality the exact opposite[/color]

[img]http://www.awitness.org/bloody/lift_dead_kid.jpg[/img]
[i]"Place this little Brown kid over there"[/i]

[Guest #22]

[quote name='BlackJesus' date='Aug 3 2005, 07:04 AM'][i][b]As someone who works with Seperatist organizations and movements I can tell you that although the Chechens enacted the hostage taking at Baslan which killed a few hundred kids.... Russia has put that total to shame in 1 day with aerial bombardment of Grozny, and firebombing Chechen villages indiscriminately.  Russia is afraid of US coverage, because they know that the truth will get out how they have been raping chechnya and Killing at will for decades (The history goes back to when Stalin Deported the ENTIRE NATION of Chechnya to Siberia after WWII).  Chechnya should be an independent state but guess why they aren't.... Oil.  Russia wants control of the vass oil reserves in Chechnya.  And Bushs invasion of Iraq, only makes it harder for him to rebuke indiscriminate killing By Putin in Chechnya because Putin just says look who's talking, we are both war mongers here.  [/b][/i]
[right][post="123530"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post][/right][/quote]
Exactly. there are skewed situations all over the world that people buy hook, line, and sinker.



I am starting to think that the U.S.S.R. was better than Putin's autocracy today.
Hell, at least they had The Internationale and Ivan Drago