DATE=11/19/1999
TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT
TITLE=RUSSIA / OSCE (L)
NUMBER=2-256368
BYLINE=PETER HEINLEIN
DATELINE=MOSCOW
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Russia's mass media has heaved a collective
sigh of relief when the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe ended its summit meeting in
Istanbul. One prominent newspaper called the face-off
over Chechnya between President Boris Yeltsin and
Western critics "a draw," rather than the stinging
defeat predicted earlier. V-O-A's Peter Heinlein
reports Russian correspondents played down the barrage
of international condemnation, focusing instead on
President Clinton's more conciliatory comments.
TEXT: When President Clinton spoke to the O-S-C-E
summit in Istanbul, he may have thought he was
criticizing Russia's war in Chechnya.
/// CLINTON ACT ///
The means Russia has chosen will undermine its
ends. And if attacks on civilians continue, the
extremism Russia is trying to combat will only
intensify, and the sovereignty Russia rightly
defending will be more and more rejected by
ordinary Chechens who are not part of the
terror or the resistance.
/// END ACT ///
But Russian television audiences heard a different
message.
/// R-T-R TELEVISION ANNOUNCER - FADE
UNDER ///
The state-run R-T-R channel led it's report from
Istanbul with a quote from Mr. Clinton saying "Russia
does not merely have the right, but the obligation
to defend its territorial integrity."
Announcers characterized Mr. Clinton's comments as an
endorsement of the campaign to crush Chechen fighters.
/// ORT ANNOUNCER - FADE UNDER ///
The O-R-T television reporter said, "Everybody
expected hard opposition, but President Clinton
actually supported Russia's actions in Chechnya." The
commentator pointed out, as did many others, that Mr.
Clinton had called on world leaders to ask themselves
what they would do if they were in President Yeltsin's
place."
The report failed to note that Mr. Clinton's speech
also accused Russia of using indiscriminate and
disproportionate force in Chechnya, causing widespread
civilian casualties.
So while Western news accounts highlighted such
criticisms, as well as Russia's concessions at the
summit, Moscow's solidly pro-war media rallied behind
President Yeltsin.
The Nezavizimaya Gazeta newspaper congratulated the
Kremlin leader for delivering a sharp but "not at all
defensive" speech. The business paper "Kommersant"
commented, "Mr. Yeltsin succeeded in everything,"
praising what it called his correct decision to adopt
an aggressive tone in his address to European leaders.
The "Vremya" newspaper called the summit a "draw" for
Russia, noting that the expected bomb - meaning
Chechnya - had gone off, but without causing any
deaths or injuries.
Almost all Russian media played down or ignored the
chorus of criticism from such leaders as French
President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard
Schroeder.
The liberal "Izvestia" paper happily noted that
President Yeltsin gave the two influential European
leaders what it called "a slap in the face," allowing
them a five-minute audience, then getting up and
walking out. The paper concluded, "Mr. Yeltsin showed
that Russia will not tolerate such behavior."
(Signed)
NEB/PFH/JWH/JP
19-Nov-1999 13:08 PM EDT (19-Nov-1999 1808 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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