Russia © RSF Russian Caucasus media iron curtain Report of a fact-finding visit to Chechnya, Dagestan and Ingushetia June 2009 Investigation : Tikhon Dzyadko, Jean-François Julliard, Elsa Vidal Reporters Without Borders - Europe & Ex-USSR Desk 47, rue Vivienne - 75002 Paris Tel : (33) 1 44 83 84 67 - Fax : (33) 1 45 23 11 51 Email : [email protected] Website : www.rsf.org After 15 years of violence, the international com - privately owned or were created by NGOs. munity has gradually lost interest in the Russian Usually self-funded, they are exposed to pressure. Caucasus. Reporters Without Borders visited the Viskhan Abukhadzhiyev, the former head of region to meet with some of the leading actors in Chechnya, Dagestan and Ingushetia, which are nowadays described by Moscow as “normalised” or “on the road to normalisation.” The fighting and bombings have for the most part stopped and the Russian federal government lifted Chechnya’s status as a Zone of Anti-Terrorist Operations (KTO) on 16 April, but the region is still dominated by tension and violence. Not a week goes by without clashes causing casualties. On 22 June, the Ingush president was seriously injured in a car-bombing. In neighbouring Dagestan, the interior minister was gunned down on 5 June, prompting a surprise visit by Russian President Dmitri Medvedev a few days later. And Moscow had to temporarily reimpose KTO status on three Chechen districts later in April. Peace and order definitely do not prevail in the Russian Caucasus but you see relatively few media a accounts of what the region’s inhabitants are suf - i n t fering. Anna Politkovskaya visited the region i e extensively for Novaya Gazeta and other journal - h a s ists continue to cover it, but they usually do so t u © RSF g from Moscow or abroad. So Reporters Without r n Photos of Ramzan Kadyrov and Dmitri Medvedev displayed at I Borders went to talk to the journalists who live u a Grozny building site. d and work there and who are unable to leave.What c n kind of pressure is put on these journalists? What a n kind of news and information does the public have Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov’s press office, n a o access to? What are the principles that govern said Chechnya has five newspapers that are dis - t r s relations between the media and the authorities? tributed throughout the republic, four magazines, i e These are key questions for the prospects of the Grozny city newspaper and five district news - g a a establishing democracy and peace in the region. papers. It has two local TV stations that cover the i D entire territory (the religious station Put and the , d a Reporters Without Borders carried out its inves - youth-oriented Molodyoj ). Each district has a TV y e tigation in all three of the Russian Caucasian n and a radio station that are “mainly entertainment- h republics – Dagestan, Ingushetia and Chechnya. Its oriented but also broadcast news flashes.”There is c m e representatives met Chechen President Ramzan also TV Grozny , which is available by satellite. 1 2 h Kadyrov , Ingush President Yunus-bek Yevkurov , – C independent journalists, human rights activists and Russia’s main national TV stations – Rossia , Pervyi o s t civil society representatives. Kanal , NTV , RenTV and TRK Peterburg – are available t i u free-to-air.The public can also access otherTV sta - s i tions with satellite dishes, including international s v TV stations. Moscow newspapers such as a Government mouthpieces g Argumenty i Fakty , Novaya Gazeta , Kommersant and c n i Moskovskiy Komsomolets are to be found on news - d u Whether a heritage of the Soviet era or a result of stands and are available “without any restriction,” n i a war and destabilisation, most of the local media f Abukhadzhjiyev said. “If the demand exists, the a - t are government mouthpieces or are regarded as C newspaper will be there. It is a market economy in i c such. The very few independent news media are which demand plays an essential role. If there is no a f n s a a f i s o s t r s 1 u o President of Chechnya since 5 April 2007. 2 p u President of Ingushetia since 1 November 2008. e R R R 2 demand for a newspaper, you won’t find it.” Reporters Without Borders found some of these newspapers at Grozny airport but could not con - firm whether they were on sale in other parts of Chechnya. The Chechen politicians Reporters Without Borders met, including President Kadyrov (see box on page 4), all stressed their interest in the media and respect for a profession that suffered greatly in the two wars (a list of journalists killed or missing is appended). But they expressed puzzling ideas about the social role and duties that journalists should © BBC have in Chechnya’s future. The minister in charge of the media, Shamsail Ramzan Kadyrov : “Journalists can criticise me. In fact I ask them to.” Reporters Without Borders met the Chechen president on 8 March in Grozny. Why do you help the press so much? Ramzan Kadyrov: Journalists are dangerous people. If I don’t help them, they will work against me. They worked with the first president [his father, Akhmad Kadyrov] during the war. They were like bomb disposal experts. They served a i n t the people. They gave my father advice. As we help the entire population, it is normal that we help them too. i e h a s Are journalists free nowadays? t u Ramzan Kadyrov: If journalists think they are not, they can turn to a judge or a prosecutor. They can criticise me. g r In fact, I ask them to. And if they do, I will do everything possible to mend my ways. n I u d c Do they? n Ramzan Kadyrov: I do everything I can not to give them any reason to criticise me. a n n a o And the foreign press? t r s Ramzan Kadyrov: Those who come here rarely tell the truth. They often come with orders to criticise Chechnya i e and criticise me. We have done a lot since the war but there are few journalists who say that. g a a i D What is a good journalist? , Ramzan Kadyrov: A journalist who tells the truth. d a y e n Do you know who killed Anna Politkovskaya? Do you think her death was linked to her h work in Chechnya? c m e Ramzan Kadyrov: You should put this question to the judicial authorities and the secret services, not to me. A lot h of the things she wrote were not true. There were people such as [exiled oligarch Boris] Berezovsky and others – C who were working against us. But anyway, we gained nothing from her death. It would have been more useful for o s t us to have her seeing and covering our activities. We had no reason to kill her. t i u s What do you say to journalists who are afraid to criticise you? i s v Ramzan Kadyrov: They should resign or should be fired, because they are deceiving their employers. A journalist a g must dare to ask all kinds of questions. I am ready to talk with any journalist about all the subjects he does not c n i dare to raise and to answer any question. d u n i a Why did you decide to create a religious TV channel? f a - Ramzan Kadyrov:We have had two wars here that were caused by a misunderstanding of Islam.The warlords have t C i c used this religion against Russia. We want to show that Islam is not a warrior religion but a religion of friendship a and peace, a religion that calls for good works. As a result of what we are doing now, the [Wahhabi] Arabs will f n s have no reason to come here. a a f i s o No journalist has been killed or kidnapped in Chechnya for a long time. Is this the result s t r of your policies? s u o Ramzan Kadyrov: Yes, this is the safest republic in Russia. We do everything possible to keep it that way. We work p u day and night. The police is paid, and it does its work. e R R R 3 Saralyev, said: “The position of the government and tures of the government’s current policies and the president is that journalists can write anything achievements. they want and can conduct their own investiga - tions.” The government’s only request, he said, is A group of young women journalists we met in that “they write objectively.” The government car - Grozny on the eve of International Women’s Day ries out “propaganda” activity in an effort to (8 March) took the same view. Asked how the sit - “reunite Chechens” after a long crisis and it uation in Chechnya has evolved, one replied: “It’s assigns the media a role in this reunification policy quite obvious, isn’t it? You just have to look at the because, “if we had not been divided, we would city.” not have been at war,” he said. The government has set itself several goals, includ - The city centre’s gleaming architecture, the lights ing society’s moralisation, and the media are asked along Putin Avenue and the photos of leaders to make an active contribution, the minister said.