Russian newspaper editor forced to quit over siege coverage
Raf Shakirov said his resignation was connected with the paper's Saturday issue, which ran huge, shocking pictures of wounded and dead children and other victims of the school hostage crisis.
"The leadership of Prof-Media (Izvestia's publisher) and I disagreed on the format of this issue. It is considered too emotional and poster-like and in general papers aren't made like that," Mr Shakirov said.
Analysts had speculated that in the aftermath, the state would strengthen control over society and the media. Mr Shakirov's resignation appeared to be one of the first steps.
Izvestia is one of Russia's largest daily newspapers, with a circulation of 234,500. It is run by Prof-Media and owned by metals magnate Vladimir Potanin, who has kept a low profile during the Kremlin-sponsored campaign against the Yukos oil giant and its key shareholders.
Other Russian newspapers were quick to criticise the government for withholding information about a spate of terror attacks over the last two weeks that have claimed at least over 400 lives adding the double air crashes in south Russia to the hostage-takeover.
The popular daily tabloid Moskovsky Komsomolets blasted the government for what it called "lies" over the latest terror attacks. "We are constantly being lied to," the paper wrote, referring to the crashes, as well as bomb blasts on a Moscow street that preceded them.
"I will never believe," the article goes, "that special forces did not know how many hostages were being held in Beslan." Official statistics put the number at 354, but witnesses said well over 1,200 were being held.
A video, shot from inside the school and aired on the Kremlin-owned Rossiya television showed that the government knew the numbers was much greater than the official figures.
Moreover, the paper points out that the death toll is said to be much larger than the official 335.
One morgue has said it has 400 bodies.
"The terrorists believe that they are stronger than us," the paper quoted President Vladimir Putin as saying, "but in reality that's exactly how it is."
The Vremya Novostei daily, speaking to an FSB official who remained unnamed, reported that Special Forces who were said to have stormed the school Friday were entirely uncoordinated and the attack was unplanned.
Izvestia, citing another unnamed official, wrote that it was the parents of the children who took the school by storm, and not the special troops.
Earlier Russian media criticised the government for failing to acknowledge that the double plane crashes which happened moments apart were caused by terrorist blasts. Until early last week, when traces of explosives were found on the crash sites of both planes, the government had repeatedly insisted that while they were not ruling out terrorism, the likely cause was technical failure.
The daily Kommersant, however, wrote that blaming such events on international terrorism, as the Kremlin has done, "allows governments all over the world not to assume their responsibilities for the deaths of their citizens," joining a number of papers that expressed surprise and concern that Putin did not mention the conflict in Chechnya when talking about the recent events.
"It's as if all the children did not die because of a war in Chechnya that has been going on for 10 years, but because international terrorism has been on the attack," the newspaper wrote.
In an address to the nation on Saturday after the three-day siege ended in carnage, Putin recognised that Russia had shown "weakness" in the face of the threat presented by "international terrorism".
He even drew a link between the hostage taking, which left at least 335 children and adults dead, according to an official toll, and the break-up of the Soviet Union.
The speech was remarkable for not referring once to Chechnya.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
