Media coverage of conflict ‘muzzled’ by Moscow

CHECHNYA presents a formidable challenge to the media outlets operating there and journalists attempting to cover events on the ground.

Media freedom groups have accused Moscow of trying to muzzle independent coverage of the Chechen conflict. They say journalists who investigate alleged abuses by federal forces in Chechnya are persecuted.

One highly-publicised case was that of Andrei Babitsky, a reporter working for the US-backed Radio Free Europe, whose reporting of the Chechen war was said to have angered the Kremlin. Mr Babitsky was arrested in Grozny and held for 10 months in 2000. Russian TV and radio stations are said to be available across much of the republic. Chechnya’s own state-run radio service resumed broadcasts in November 2001.