[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 18 (Thursday, February 24, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Page S825]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




SENATE RESOLUTION 261--EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF THE SENATE REGARDING THE 
     DETENTION OF ANDREI BABITSKY BY THE GOVERNMENT OF THE RUSSIAN 
             FEDERATION AND FREEDOM OF THE PRESS IN RUSSIA

  Mr. HELMS (for himself, Mr. Biden, Mr. Roth, Mr. Lott, and Mr. Dodd) 
submitted the following resolution; which was considered and agreed to:

                              S. Res. 261

       Whereas Andrei Babitsky, a dedicated and professional 
     journalist for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) for 
     the last 10 years, reported on the 1994-1996 and the current 
     Russo-Chechen wars;
       Whereas on December 27, 1999, the Russian Information 
     Committee (RIC) in Chechnya accused Babitsky of ``conspiracy 
     with Chechen rebels'' after he broadcast a story that shed 
     unfavorable light on Russian military actions in Chechnya;
       Whereas on January 8, 2000, Russian security agents raided 
     Babitsky's apartment in Moscow and confiscated several items 
     and later ordered his wife, Ludmila Babitskaya, to report to 
     a local militia station in Moscow after she attempted to pick 
     up photographs taken by her husband in Chechnya;
       Whereas on January 18, 2000, Babitsky was reportedly 
     detained by Russian authorities in Moscow but later reports 
     indicated that he was not formally arrested until January 27, 
     2000;
       Whereas on January 26, 2000, Russian presidential spokesman 
     Sergei Yastrzhembsky said that Babitsky ``left Grozny and 
     then disappeared'' and declared that Russian security 
     services had no idea as to his whereabouts and that ``his 
     security is not guaranteed'';
       Whereas on January 28, 2000, Russian media officials told 
     RFE/RL that Babitsky would be released with apologies after 
     having been charged with participating in ``an illegal armed 
     formation'';
       Whereas on February 2, 2000, Moscow officials announced 
     that Babitsky would be transferred from Naursky district near 
     Chechnya to Gudermes and then to Moscow where he would then 
     be released on his own recognizance;
       Whereas on February 3, 2000, Russian presidential spokesman 
     Sergei Yastrzhembsky said that Russian officials exchanged 
     Babitsky for 3 Russian prisoners of war and on the same day, 
     Vladimir Ustinov, acting Russian prosecutor general, said 
     Babitsky had been released and had gone over to the Chechens 
     on his own accord;
       Whereas the Government of the Russian Federation has 
     repeatedly issued contradictory statements on the detention 
     of Andrei Babitsky and provided neither a credible accounting 
     of its detention of Babitsky nor any credible evidence of his 
     well-being;
       Whereas United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights 
     Mary Robinson stated on February 16 that Russian behavior in 
     Chechnya and the detention of Andrei Babitsky appears to 
     violate the Geneva conventions to which Russia is a 
     signatory;
       Whereas on February 16, 2000, Russian Human Rights 
     Commissioner Oleg Mironov denounced Moscow's handling of 
     Babitsky as a violation of Russian law and international law 
     and stated that the situation surrounding Babitsky signals 
     ``that the same thing may happen to every reporter'';
       Whereas the Union of Journalists in Russia declared on 
     February 16 that the case of Andrei Babitsky is ``not an 
     isolated episode, but almost a turning point in the struggle 
     for a press that serves society and not the authorities'' and 
     that ``the threat to freedom of speech in Russia has for the 
     first time in the last several years transformed into its 
     open and regular suppression'';
       Whereas freedom of the press is both a central element of 
     democracy as well as a catalyst for democratic reform;
       Whereas the Government of the Russian Federation has 
     repeatedly violated the principles of freedom of the press by 
     subjecting journalists who question or oppose its policies to 
     censorship, intimidation, harassment, incarceration, and 
     violence; by restricting beyond internationally accepted 
     limits their access to information; and by issuing misleading 
     and false information; and
       Whereas the Government of the Russian Federation has 
     egregiously restricted the efforts of journalists to report 
     on the indiscriminate brutality of Russia's use of force in 
     Chechnya: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that--
       (1) the detention of Andrei Babitsky by the Government of 
     the Russian Federation and the misinformation the Government 
     of the Russian Federation has issued concerning this matter--
       (A) constitute reprehensible treatment of a civilian in a 
     conflict zone in violation of the Geneva Conventions and 
     applicable protocols; and
       (B) demonstrate the Government of the Russian Federation's 
     intolerance toward a free and open press;
       (2) the conduct of the Government of the Russian Federation 
     leaves it responsible for the safety of Andrei Babitsky;
       (3) the Government of the Russian Federation should take 
     steps to secure the safe return of RFE/RL reporter Andrei 
     Babitsky to his family;
       (4) the Government of the Russian Federation should provide 
     a full accounting of Mr. Babitsky's detention and the charges 
     he may face; and
       (5) the Russian authorities should immediately halt their 
     harassment of journalists, foreign and domestic, who cover 
     the war in Chechnya and any other event in the Russian 
     Federation and should fully adhere to the Universal 
     Declaration of Human Rights, which declares in Article 19 
     that ``everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and 
     expression; this right includes the freedom to hold opinions 
     without interference and to seek, receive and impart 
     information and ideas through any media regardless of 
     frontiers''.

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