Russia Mulls Libel Suits Over International Coverage of Litvinenko Affair — Report

[seemslikeadream]

http://www.mosnews.com/news/2006/12/10/russlibelsuits.shtml

Russia Today TV, Moscow’s English-language satellite television channel, reported that Russian government officials are considering filing libel suits against international journalists over their reporting on the poisoning death of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko.

Shortly before he died in London from radiation poisoning in late November, Litvinenko, who was a strong critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, accused him of ordering his assassination. Putin and other Russian officials strongly denied any prior knowledge of a plot to kill Litvinenko.

According to a report posted late Friday on the Russia Today TV web site, the Federal Agency for Press and Mass Media is gathering publications worldwide to be studied for libelous and offensive comments against Russia in their coverage of the Litvinenko’s case.

Russia Today TV reported that the Russian government intends to file law suits for libel against international media if there is evidence of journalistic misconduct.

In a Voice of America interview shortly before he was poisoned by a radioactive substance polonium-210, former Russian spy Litvinenko had accused President Putin of ordering the murder of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya to silence her and intimidate other independent journalists. She had been killed by an unknown assailant in Moscow in early October.

The Russian government’s warnings aimed at international journalists follow President Putin’s largely successful efforts to bring major media outlets in Russia under government control and to limit media criticism of his policies.

Reporters Without Borders, a Paris-based nongovernmental organization, has called Mr. Putin one of the world’s top “Predators of Press Freedom.”

[AngryAmish]

1. good luck with that

[papau]

2. Why should Russia have a press less controlled by rich/corporate/government than the US?

If Russia wants to meet our standards for a press that is tough on the rich and corporate political party as it pretends to be for the middle-class - well I think they have met those standards. Indeed they have that nice little war of their own going on with terrorists that are muslim.

The similarities do stand out....

[bunyip]

3. Putin is absolutely shameless.

I doubt he actually intends to DO anything. He's just posturing, and demonstrating to the world our weakness.

The West is so weakened by oil dependency and the Iraq occupation that Putin can reach out and kill a UK citizen, in London, and the West's leaders just avert their eyes. He's got our balls in a vise, and he wants EVERYONE to know it. :grr:

[havocmom]

4. I suppose suing critics is an improvement over poisoning them

so this is a good sign? :shrug: