Vladimir Kara-Murza: Spotlight on Russia

As expected, the first target of the Kremlin’s “counter-terror” campaign in the wake of last week’s attacks in Moscow and Kizlyar was the independent media. Not that there’s much of it left. Vladimir Putin has long silenced the most influential voices of uncensored journalism, including NTV (seized by the state in 2001), TV6 and TVS (shut down in 2002 and 2003). But, apparently, even the few remaining critical outlets provide a major obstacle to the Russian government’s “fight against terrorism.”

Duma Speaker Boris Gryzlov, who once famously declared that “parliament is not a place for discussion”, has accused Vedomosti, a respected newspaper published in cooperation with the Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times, and well-known Moskovskii Komsomolets columnist Alexander Minkin, of being terrorist accomplices. Both have criticized Kremlin policies in the North Caucasus. During a meeting with President Dmitry Medvedev, Mr. Gryzlov spoke of “the connection between the publications and the terrorists' actions.” Meanwhile, the Federal Supervision Service for Communications has issued an official warning to the weekly newspaper Argumenty Nedeli for publishing the link to a video message by Chechen terrorist leader Doku Umarov in which he claimed responsibility for the Moscow bombings. The agency equated the newspaper’s actions with “public justification of terrorism.” (Two warnings issued to a media outlet within a year result in its closure.) One wonders what CNN or Fox News would have made of such accusations from the White House each time they reported on statements by Al Qaeda. Robert Shlegel, a Duma deputy for Mr. Putin’s United Russia party, is proposing an amendment that will prohibit any media coverage of persons wanted or convicted for “complicity in terrorist activities.”

Another legislator, Sergei Abeltsev, who once suggested setting off rabid dogs on opposition rallies and told U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Philip Gordon to change his name to “Condom”, and who is proudly featured on President Medvedev’s personnel reserve list, requested the prosecutor’s office to investigate “extremist statements” in Nezavisimaya Gazeta, which on March 3 published an article by Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Russia’s most famous political prisoner, criticizing the country’s penitentiary system. As of April 6, the decision by the Moscow prosecutor’s office is still pending.

To be sure, not all terrorists will be banned from Russia’s newspapers or, indeed, from the halls of its foreign ministry. Hamas, responsible for killing hundreds of Israeli and Palestinian civilians, is viewed by the Kremlin not as a terrorist group, but as a legitimate interlocutor. Its leaders are welcome guests of Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov—the same Sergei Lavrov who once accused the West of “double standards” in the fight against terrorism.