10 February 2000
Text: RFE/RL's Babitsky Says on Tape He Wants to Go Home
(RFE/RL press release Feb. 9) (710) A Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty press release discusses the videotape delivered to the RFE/RL bureau in Moscow February 8 which shows correspondent Andrei Babitsky, who is purportedly in the hands of the Chechens, saying he wants to go home. "Except for the fact that it is Babitsky on the tape, nothing else on it can be independently verified," the press release said. It added that "Russian forces detained Babitsky as he was leaving Grozny last month, allegedly because he lacked proper journalistic accreditation. The Russian government maintains it exchanged Babitsky for the two Russian prisoners, but Chechen authorities insist their forces never received Babitsky in a handover." Following is the text of the press release: (begin text) Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Washington, DC RFE/RL'S BABITSKY SAYS ON TAPE HE WANTS TO GO HOME Prague, February 9 -- A videotape delivered to RFE/RL bureau in Moscow late last night shows the radio's correspondent Andrei Babitsky sitting in front of a stark white wall, a piece of cloth in his hand, saying slowly but distinctly that he wants to go home right now. The tape was purportedly made after Russian authorities said the 36-year-old journalist, who covered the Chechen war for Radio Liberty's Russian service, was handed over to the Chechens in exchange for two Russian POW's. Babitsky was allegedly turned over to the Chechens on February 3. On the tape, Babitsky says that it was filmed on Sunday, February 6, 2000. The 59-second tape recording, purchased by RFE/RL, was also repeatedly shown today on Russia's NTV. Following is the transcript of what Babitsky says: "It is February 6, 2000. I am relatively all right. The only problem is time, because the circumstances are such that I unfortunately cannot immediately return home. Here, everything is OK, as normal as it can be in the middle of a war. People, who are around me, are trying to help me. The only problem is that I really want to go home, I want all this to finally end. But don't worry, I hope I will be back home soon." According to Mario Corti, acting director of RFE/RL's Russian service, the tape was first offered to Reuters and later to BBC in Moscow. A person at BBC suggested that the tape would be more useful to RFE/RL. Corti, who is in Moscow at present, paid $300 to an unidentified man for the recording. Corti says the man who sold the tape told a BBC correspondent who accompanied him to RFE/RL that Babitsky is in the hands of the Chechens; that he was handed over to "very important people," that he is not coming back to his family because "we were told to keep our positions until the 28th and then leave through the Georgian border, and that he (Babitsky) may reemerge in Poland." Except for the fact that it is Babitsky on the tape, nothing else on it can be independently verified. Russian forces detained Babitsky as he was leaving Grozny last month, allegedly because he lacked proper journalistic accreditation. The Russian government maintains it exchanged Babitsky for the two Russian prisoners, but Chechen authorities insist their forces never received Babitsky in a handover. Babitsky has been RFE/RL's correspondent for ten years. He covered the first Chechen war in 1994-96. Meanwhile in Moscow, the State Duma today voted down a proposal to summon Interior Minister Vladimir Rushailo and the acting Prosecutor General Vladimir Ustinov to discuss the Babitsky case. And the Brussels-based International Federation of Journalists has faxed an open letter to acting Russian President Vladimir Putin saying Babitsky's alleged exchange for POWs is unacceptable and a violation of the Geneva Conventions. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty is a private, international radio service to Eastern Europe and Southeastern Europe, Russia, the Caucasus, Central Asia and the Middle East funded by the US Congress. More than 20 million listeners rely on RFE/RL's daily news, analysis and current affairs programming to provide a coherent, objective account of events in their region and the world. (end text) (Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State)
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