BRITISH REPORTER BARRED ENTRY TO RUSSIA
By Oliver Bullough
St.Petersburg Times, Russia
July 4 2006
MOSCOW – Russia has refused a visa to a British journalist well-known
for his coverage of Chechnya and the turbulent Caucasus, citing the
needs of "state security".
Thomas de Waal, who has previously worked in Moscow for the
English-language Moscow Times, the St. Petersburg Times, the BBC and
the Times, said on Monday he had been due to attend the presentation
of a Russian version of his book on the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh.
But the Federal Migration Service refused him a visa.
The service was not available for comment on Monday but in its letter
refusing the application it cited a 1996 law that says a visa can be
refused "in the aims of securing state security."
De Waal said he had cooperated with Russian officials in the past
on Nagorno-Karabakh, a South Caucasus region officially part of
Azerbaijan but ruled by Armenians, and did not believe they would
bar him for his views on the conflict.
"This clearly has to be because of the other main thing that I write
about, which is Chechnya," de Waal, 39, told Reuters by telephone
from London.
Russian officials have been sensitive about Western criticism of the
war in Chechnya, where they have struggled to crush separatism for
more than a decade, and local journalists have been prosecuted for
sympathising with the rebels.
President Vladimir Putin in 2002 said a foreign journalist critical of
Russia’s policy in the region should become a Muslim and be circumcised
"in such a way that nothing grows back."
Russia barred U.S. channel ABC news from Russia after it ran an
interview with Chechen rebel leader Shamil Basayev.
Press freedom groups say that Russia tries to intimidate journalists
into only reporting the Kremlin view on Chechnya.
A Russian journalist in February was convicted of provoking racial
hatred after he printed articles by rebel leaders.
De Waal is best known in Russia for appearing as an expert witness for
the defense at the extradition trial of rebel leader Akhmed Zakayev
in London. He said that his involvement in the trial could be behind
his failure to get a visa.
The British court in 2003 declined to extradite Zakayev, giving him
political asylum instead – a move that infuriated Moscow, which calls
Zakayev a terrorist.
"It is possible that the wheels turn rather slowly, or that this is
a cumulative account of things I have done over the last 10 years,"
de Waal said. He last visited Russia in January 2005.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress