Russia accuses public Czech Television of supporting terrorists by broadcasting documentary on Chechnya war(Prague Watchdog) - The Russian Foreign Ministry today issued a statement in which it accuses public Czech Television of supporting terrorists by broadcasting a documentary on the war in Chechnya.
Czech Television, which broadcast the anti-war documentary on its two nationwide channels on October 31 and November 6, considers the statement absurd and said it would comment on it later. The Czech Foreign Ministry said that the statement is just "an expression of reservation".
The Russian Foreign Ministry writes that the documentary "effectively lionizes Chechen guerillas". The ministry expresses concern about the broadcasting of "a film taken from the archives shortly after the tragedy in Moscow, which was connected with hostage-taking... The fact can hardly be qualified otherwise than public support to terrorists," writes the statement.
The documentary "Dark Side of the World" was shot by prominent Czech journalists Petra Procházková and Jaromír Štětina; its director is Pavel Hanuš. It was premiered in early 2000 and it won, among others, the SAIS-Novartis Prize for Excellence in International Journalism for the year 2000 by the Johns Hopkins University in Washington.
The documentary was shot in late 1999 in the Chechen capital of Grozny and the village of Samashki where the Czech reporters managed to penetrate in spite of the effort of the Russian military to hermetically cordon off the two places, which were subject to bombardment and artillery shelling.
The documentary shows the harsh reality of the war and its impact on civilians. It is based on utterances of common people, who are the main concern of the authors, although it contains also interviews with Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov and top Chechen commanders as well as Russian General Valery Manilov.
In October 2000, Czech President Václav Havel gave Petra Procházková and Jaromír Štětina a Czech state award for their reporting on armed conflicts in the territory of the former Soviet Union.
Nowadays, both Petra Procházková and Jaromír Štětina are on a blacklist of persons whom the Russian authorities deny a Russian visa. (T) RELATED ARTICLES:
· Statement of the Russian Foreign Ministry of November 6 (unofficial English translation by the ministry; 7-11-2002)
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