[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 12]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 16912-16913]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



INITIAL VICTORY IN THE STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM OF THE PRESS IN RUSSIA--BUT 
                          THE FIGHT MUST GO ON

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. TOM LANTOS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 27, 2000

  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, in the long and difficult fight for freedom 
of the press in Russia we have won an important victory today. The 
Russian prosecutor informed Vladimir Gusinsky--head of Russia's Media-
Most media conglomerate--that the case against him has been dropped for 
``the lack of a fact of a crime.''
  Mr. Speaker, the prosecutor's action against Mr. Gusinsky was never 
simply a case of

[[Page 16913]]

prosecuting a crime. From the beginning it has been a case of seeking 
to persecute and harass and intimidate and muzzle the free press in 
Russia. Vladimir Gusinsky is the head of Media-Most, which owns NTV 
television network, Russia's leading independent television network, as 
well as Echo of Moscow radio, and a number of other important 
independent media ventures.
  It is significant, Mr. Speaker, that NTV and other Media-Most 
journalists have been critical of Russian President Putin and of the 
actions of the Russian government. Critical journalism is certainly 
nothing that would even raise eyebrows in the United States or Western 
Europe or other free countries around the world.
  Mr. Speaker, the harassment of Mr. Gusinsky involved actions against 
him that go well beyond what would be done in a normal criminal 
proceeding involving such charges. Mr. Gusinsky was jailed for four 
days in June; in a high-handed fashion authorities seized documents 
from his company's offices several times; after he was released from 
jail, he was repeatedly called in for questioning; he was prohibited 
from traveling abroad; and steps were taken to freeze his personal 
assets.
  On a number of occasions in the past, I have called to the attention 
of my colleagues in this House the systematic efforts to harass and 
intimidate the independent media in Russia. I hope that President Putin 
now understands that there is no room for Russia in the community of 
free and democratic nations if his government engages in efforts to 
oppress and threaten the free press in Russia.
  Mr. Speaker, the dropping of charges against Mr. Gusinsky represents 
a victory for democracy and press freedom in Russia, but the battle is 
far from over. We must continue and strengthen our efforts to preserve 
free media in Russia.

                          ____________________