"Svoboda" is not a Russian word

Two recent graphic but rather melancholy snippets from the Russian media:

[Presenter] Footage of the trial in Qatar [of two Russian citizens accused of the murder of a former Chechen leader Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev] has been cut from Leonid Parfenov's programme Namedni [NTV]. The bulk of the report consisted of an interview with the widow of Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev, Malika. She herself believes that her interview was withdrawn because she had spoken the truth.

[Malika Yandarbiyev] The truth has never been liked in Russia. I have said nothing for myself. When I was asked, I said what was taking place at the trial. I am not competent in politics. Simply, people came and put questions, and I answered them with what I know. That is all. I have no time for this at all. My boy is still in a very bad way. It makes no difference to me whether it will be shown or not. I do not either win or lose from this. It is just important to you all. It shows what sort of freedom there is in Russia today. It is an interview with an ordinary woman. I have no political competence to make any political statements.

[Passage omitted: the special services asked deputy director-general of NTV not to show the judicial process in Qatar until the defendants' case has been decided]


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Presenter] Aleksandr Gerasimov, deputy director-general of the NTV channel, is live on the telephone. Good evening, Aleksandr Anatolyevich.

[Gerasimov] Hello.

[Presenter] So what was the motive? Is it true that you pulled the report after receiving a call from the special services?

[Gerasimov] No, it was not after a call from the special services. We had a verbal request not to broadcast anything related to the court hearing [in Qatar] because the special services believe that this may influence in some way the verdict to be passed by the Qatar court. This is such a delicate and subtle subject that it did not even occur to me to argue because if specialists believe that our compatriots may suffer as a result of our certain actions, this issue must not even be discussed, whatever our attitude to our compatriots may be. You may call them FSB or KGB agents, saboteurs or terrorists - whatever, this is a different subject. But if there is a request of this nature, we have to treat other people's lives quite carefully. And this was conveyed not only to Leonid Gennadiyevich [Parfenov] but also to all the journalists in the editorial office because we handle a large information flow.

[Presenter] And what was Mr Parfenov's reaction? I'm sure you must have heard the excerpt from the interview he gave to our radio station where he said that all that has happened was a sign of failing journalistic criteria.

[Gerasimov] I would not want to pass judgment on what Leonid said. It's his personal position, his view and he is entitled to it. In this case, we have nothing to talk about at all because this is an absolutely in-house editorial event which has no bearing to what is now taking place around it. Calling a spade a spade, the very fact that it was made pubic by Kommersant newspaper is a breach of corporate ethics. I realize that many people, and not only journalists, are listening to us now and they understand perfectly well that internal documents - and the instruction that I signed was one of them - are internal documents indeed, not meant for public circulation, especially not in the press.

[Presenter] If this had not been done, however, would you have denied that the written instruction existed?

[Gerasimov] Why?

[Presenter] You would not. Do you think that what happened is a kind of censorship?

[Gerasimov] Come off it! What censorship? It's simply ludicrous to accuse me of smothering freedom of speech. Just watch my own programme "Personal Contribution".

[Presenter] Thank you, Aleksandr Anatolyevich.


Update 2 June

Leonid Parfenov has now been fired from NTV. Gneral secretary of the Union of Russian Journalists Igor Yakovenko called the firing the same kind of revolutionary and known events as the murders of Dmitry Kholodov and Vladislav Listev, or the closing down of the TVS channel.