Russia fails to stop TV interview with Beslan terror chief

[emad]

Times
From Jeremy Page in Moscow



RUSSIA tried in vain to get British authorities to block the broadcast last night of a Channel 4 interview with Shamil Basayev, the Chechen rebel leader who masterminded the Beslan school siege.

The Russian Government said that screening the interview, excerpts of which were published by The Times yesterday, undermined the international war against terrorism by providing a platform for Russia’s most wanted man. “We regard this action as another step towards information support of terrorists operating in North Caucasus,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

“We are convinced that such an irresponsible step of broadcasting the views and threats of a bandit runs counter to the efforts of the international community to fight terrorism,” it said.

Mr Basayev has claimed responsibility for many of Russia’s worst terrorist attacks, including the Beslan school siege last year in which 330 people were killed, half of them children. Channel 4 News defended its decision to air the interview, in which Mr Basayev promised further attacks.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,174-1469628,00.html

[russian33]

1. So, I wonder...would channel 4 air an interview with Bin Laden...

...if they had the chance?

[Tempest]

2. Why not?

They air Bush's speeches.

And he's as much a terrorist as bin Laden.

[YDogg]

4. Ya beat me to ...

... it. :-D

[jdj]

3. aren't they kind referring to him as "Mr." Basayev instead of just Basayev

or "that asshole".

[Calico Jack Rackham]

5. I prefer

Fucking terrorist Douchebag myself. Shamil Basayev should be publicly beheaded and then sewn into and buried in a hogs carcass that has been pickled in Vodka.

[whatelseisnew]

6. They've clashed over Chechnya before

http://www.deepikaglobal.com/ENG4_sub.asp?newscode=91676&catcode=ENG4&subcatcode=

Britain and Russia have clashed over Chechnya before, when a London court gave
asylum to top rebel envoy Akhmed Zakayev.

Russia said Zakayev was an international terrorist, but the court ruled he would not get a
fair trial in Russia and allowed him to live freely in Britain.