Russian bill will curb the media

RUSSIA’S lower house of parliament yesterday passed a bill that would severely curb news coverage of anti-terrorist operations and prohibit the media from carrying rebel statements.

The Chechen rebels who seized more than 800 hostages at a Moscow theatre last week “had elaborated a media plan,” Press Minister Mikhail Lesin said in an interview published yesterday.

“They were very well prepared from the point of view of the Russian mass media, journalists and news makers. And they used this situation very well.”