[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 75 (Thursday, June 15, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5274-S5275]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 123--EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF THE CONGRESS 
REGARDING MANIPULATION OF THE MASS AND INTIMIDATION OF THE INDEPENDENT 
  PRESS IN THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION, EXPRESSING SUPPORT FOR FREEDOM OF 
SPEECH AND THE INDEPENDENT MEDIA IN THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION, AND CALLING 
ON THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES TO EXPRESS HIS STRONG CONCERN FOR 
 FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND THE INDEPENDENT MEDIA IN THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION

  Mr. LAUTENBERG submitted the following concurrent resolution; which 
was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations:

                            S. Con. Res. 123

       Whereas almost all of the large printing plants, publishing 
     houses, and newspaper distribution companies, several leading 
     news agencies, and almost all of the nationwide television 
     frequencies and broadcasting facilities in the Russian 
     Federation remain under government control, despite the 
     extensive privatization of state-owned enterprises in other 
     sectors of the Russian economy;
       Whereas the ``Press Freedom Survey 2000'' reported by 
     ``Freedom House'' of Washington, DC, stated that the 
     approximately 2,500 regional and rural newspapers in Russia 
     outside of Moscow are almost completely owned by local or 
     provincial governments;
       Whereas the Government of Russia is able to suspend or 
     revoke broadcast and publishing licenses and apply exorbitant 
     taxes and fees on the independent media;
       Whereas, in 1999, a major television network controlled by 
     the Russian Government canceled the program ``Top Secret'' 
     after it reported on alleged corruption at high levels of the 
     government;
       Whereas, in July 1999, the Government of Russia created a 
     new Ministry for Press, Television and Radio Broadcasting, 
     and Mass Communications;
       Whereas, in August 1999, the editors of fourteen of 
     Russia's leading news publications sent an open letter to 
     then Russian President Boris Yeltsin stating that high-
     ranking officials of the government were putting pressure on 
     the mass media, particularly through unwarranted raids by tax 
     police;
       Whereas Mikhail Lesin, Minister for Press, Television and 
     Radio Broadcasting, and Mass Communications, stated in 
     October 1999 that the Russian Government would change its 
     policies towards the mass media so as to address 
     ``aggression'' by the Russian press;
       Whereas the Russian Federal Security Service or ``FSB'' is 
     reportedly implementing a technical regulation known as 
     ``SORM-2'' by which it could reroute, in real time, all 
     electronic transmissions over the Internet through FSB 
     offices for purposes of surveillance, a likely violation of 
     the Russian constitution's provisions concerning the right to 
     privacy of private communications, according to Aleksei 
     Simonov, President of the Russian ``Glasnost Defense 
     Foundation,'' a nongovernmental human rights organization;
       Whereas such surveillance under SORM-2 would allow the 
     Russian Federal Security Service access to passwords, 
     financial transactions, and confidential company information, 
     among other transmissions;
       Whereas it is reported that over one hundred Russian 
     journalists have been killed over the past decade, with few 
     if any of the government investigations into those murders 
     resulting in arrests, prosecutions, or convictions;
       Whereas numerous observers of Russian politics have noted 
     the blatant misuse of the leading Russian television 
     channels, controlled by the Russian Government, to undermine 
     popular support for political rivals of those supporting the 
     government in the run-up to parliamentary elections held in 
     December 1999;
       Whereas it has been reported that Russian television 
     stations controlled by the Russian Government were used to 
     disparage opponents of Vladimir Putin during the campaign for 
     the presidency in the beginning of this year, and whereas it 
     has been reported that political advertisements by those 
     candidates were routinely relegated by those stations to 
     slots outside of prime time coverage;
       Whereas manipulation of the media by the Russian Government 
     appeared intent on portraying the Russian military attack on 
     the separatist Republic of Chechnya to the maximum political 
     advantage of the Russian Government;
       Whereas in December 1999 two correspondents for ``Reuters 
     News Agency'' and the ``Associated Press'' were reportedly 
     accused of being foreign spies after reporting high Russian 
     casualty figures in the war in Chechnya;
       Whereas the arrest in January 2000, subsequent treatment by 
     the Russian military, and prosecution by the Russian 
     Government of Andrei Babitsky, a correspondent for Radio Free 
     Europe/Radio Liberty covering the war in Chechnya, have 
     constituted a violation of commitments made by the Russian 
     Government to foster freedom of speech and of the press, and 
     have reportedly constituted a violation of the Criminal Code 
     of the Russian Federation;
       Whereas in January 2000 Aleksandr Khinshtein, a reporter 
     for the newspaper ``Moskovsky Komosomlets'', was ordered by 
     the Russian Federal Security Service to enter a clinic over 
     100 miles from his home for a psychiatric examination after 
     he accused top Russian officials of illegal activities, and 
     such detainment in psychiatric wards was previously employed 
     by the former Soviet regime to stifle dissent;
       Whereas the Russian newspaper ``Novaya Gazeta'' was 
     officially warned by the Russian Ministry of the Press for 
     its printing of an interview with Aslan Maskhadov, the 
     elected President of the Republic of Chechnya; an entire 
     issue of ``Novaya Gazeta'', including several articles 
     alleging massive campaign finance violations by the 
     presidential campaign of Vladimir Putin, was lost to 
     unidentified computer ``hackers''; and a journalist for 
     ``Novaya Gazeta'' was savagely beaten in May of this year;
       Whereas President Thomas Dine of Radio Free Europe/Radio 
     Liberty on March 14th, 2000, condemned the Russian 
     Government's expanding efforts to intimidate the mass media, 
     stating that those actions threaten the chances for democracy 
     and rule of law in Russia;
       Whereas ``NTV'', the only national independent television 
     station, which reaches half of Russia and is credited with 
     professional and balanced news programs, has frequently 
     broadcast news stories critical of Russian Government 
     policies;
       Whereas on May 11, 2000, masked officers of the Russian 
     Federal Security Service carrying assault weapons raided the 
     offices of ``Media-Most'', the corporate owner of NTV and 
     other independent media;
       Whereas the May 11th raid on Media-Most represented a 
     failure of recourse to normal

[[Page S5275]]

     legal mechanisms and conveyed the appearance of a 
     politically-motivated attack on Russian independent media;
       Whereas the raid on Media-Most was carried out under the 
     authority of President Putin and Russian Government ministers 
     who have not criticized or repudiated that action;
       Whereas on June 12, 2000, Vladimir Gusinsky, owner of NTV 
     and other leading independent media was suddenly arrested;
       Whereas President Putin claimed not to have known of the 
     planned arrest of Vladimir Gusinsky;
       Whereas the continued functioning of an independent media 
     is a vital attribute of Russian democracy and an important 
     obstacle to the return of authoritarian or totalitarian 
     dictatorship in Russia; and
       Whereas a free news media can exist only in an environment 
     that is free of state control of the news media, that is free 
     of any form of state censorship or official coercion of any 
     kind, and that is protected and guaranteed by the rule of 
     law: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives 
     concurring),
       (1) expresses its continuing, strong support for freedom of 
     speech and the independent media in the Russian Federation;
       (2) expresses its strong concern over the failure of the 
     government of the Russian Federation to privatize major 
     segments of the Russian media, thus retaining the ability of 
     Russian officials to manipulate the media for political or 
     corrupt ends;
       (3) expresses its strong concern over the pattern of 
     Russian officials' surveillance and physical, economic, 
     legal, and political intimidation of Russian citizens and of 
     the Russian media that has now become apparent in Russia;
       (4) expresses its strong concern over the pattern of 
     manipulation of the Russian media by Russian Government 
     officials for political and possibly corrupt purposes that 
     has now become apparent;
       (5) expresses profound regret and dismay at the detention 
     and continued prosecution of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty 
     journalist Andrei Babitsky and condemns those breaches of 
     Russian legal procedure and of Russian Government commitments 
     to the rights of Russian citizens that have reportedly 
     occurred in his detention and prosecution;
       (6) expresses strong concern over the breaches of Russian 
     legal procedure that have reportedly occurred in the course 
     of the May 11th raid by the Russian Federal Security Service 
     on Media-Most and the June 12th arrest of Vladimir Gusinsky; 
     and
       (7) calls on the President of the United States to express 
     to the President of the Russian Federation his strong concern 
     for freedom of speech and the independent media in the 
     Russian Federation and to emphasize the concern of the United 
     States that official pressures against the independent media 
     and the political manipulation of the state-owned media in 
     Russia are incompatible with democratic norms.

     SEC. 2. TRANSMITTAL TO SECRETARY OF STATE.

       The Secretary of the Senate shall transmit a copy of this 
     concurrent resolution to the Secretary of State with the 
     request that it be forwarded to the President of the Russian 
     Federation.

  Mr. LAUTENBERG. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce a resolution 
on an important human rights issue in the Russian Federation: freedom 
of the press. This resolution was introduced in the House yesterday by 
Congressmen Gilman and Lantos and Helsinki Commission Chairman Chris 
Smith, who share my concern for human rights around the globe.
  This resolution expresses the concern of the Congress over the 
treatment of the Russian media by the government of Russia. This 
treatment has included increased intimidation, manipulation, and scare 
tactics. Most recently, Vladimir Gusinsky, owner of the principal 
independent television station in Russia, was arrested and the offices 
of Media Most were searched without due process.
  The media in Russia, even today, is still mostly state-owned. Of the 
large printing and publishing houses, newspaper distribution companies, 
nationwide television frequencies, and the broadcasting facilities that 
have been privatized at all, the government still maintains an interest 
and some measure of control over many of them. Such control has 
reportedly been used for political ends in recent parliamentary and 
presidential elections in Russia.
  It is imperative for the future of democracy in Russia to maintain a 
free and independent media. A free press is essential to achieving 
stability in Russia and a government that is accountable to the rule of 
law. Such manipulation and intimidation tactics that have been employed 
by the Russian Government in recent weeks contradict the democratic 
values that we hope Russia will embrace.
  Mr. President, I hope my colleagues will join me in support of this 
resolution to express our support for press freedom in Russia and our 
concern over its infringement.

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