DATE=3/16/2000
TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT
TITLE=RUSSIA / MEDIA
NUMBER=5-45659
BYLINE=PETER HEINLEIN
DATELINE=MOSCOW
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: A Moscow newspaper specializing in hard-
hitting investigative reporting has been victimized by
computer hackers who destroyed the latest issue. V-O-
A's Peter Heinlein in Moscow reports the apparent
sabotage is the latest in a series of mysterious
events that have frightened and intimidated Russian
journalists.
TEXT: The Novaya Gazeta newspaper failed to make it
to Moscow newsstands Thursday. Computers containing
the entire contents of the Thursday issue failed
shortly before the paper was to go to the press,
destroying everything.
Deputy editor Sergei Sokolov says the computer failure
was a clear case of sabotage.
/// SOKOLOV ACT ONE - IN RUSSIAN - FADE UNDER ///
He says there was what he calls "an unsanctioned
break-into our computer network from outside." He
says somebody broke into the computer system and
erased everything the newspaper was about to publish.
Thursday's edition was to have carried an expose
detailing funding sources for President Boris
Yeltsin's 1996 election campaign and for the current
campaign of Acting President Vladimir Putin.
But many Moscow journalists see another possible
motive behind the attack. They note that Novaya
Gazeta has recently published a series of
investigative articles challenging official statements
made by the F-S-B, the main successor to the Soviet K-
G-B spy agency
F-S-B officials last September said a bomb found in an
apartment building in Ryazan, 160 kilometers south of
Moscow was a fake planted by security officers as a
training exercise.
The discovery was made just days after explosions
ripped through four apartment buildings in Moscow and
other cities, killing nearly 300 people. Those blasts
were blamed on Chechen terrorists, prompting Russia to
launch its military offensive into Chechnya.
In its reports, Novaya Gazeta suggests the Ryazan bomb
was real, and furthermore might indicate that Russian
security services -- not Chechen terrorists -- were
behind the apartment block blasts.
But in a V-O-A interview, Deputy Editor Sokolov went
out of his way (stressed) that he does not suspect
the F-S-B was involved in the attack on his paper's
computers.
/// SOKOLOV ACT TWO - IN RUSSIAN - FADE UNDER ///
He says, "I repeat that I do not think the F-S-B or
any other security services would behave this way."
He adds, "There is no need for it, and we don't even
think about it."
Other journalists, however, are not so sure. Matt
Bivens, editor of the English-language Moscow Times
newspaper, says the F-S-B must be considered a prime
suspect in the computer hacking incident.
/// BIVENS ACT ONE ///
I think they're disingenuous if they say they
don't believe the F-S-B is tied to this.
They've been poundingly critical of the F-S-B
for weeks, and they've been basically accusing
the F-S-B of somehow being involved in blowing
up the Moscow apartments, and then suddenly
somebody has the will and the ability to hack
into their computer system and steal everything.
That's the sort of attack you can only expect
from a government, and it makes perfect sense to
me that it was the F-S-B.
/// END ACT ///
Mr. Bivens says a series of recent events, including
the arrest of Radio Liberty journalist Andrei Babitsky
in Chechnya and the death last week of crusading
journalist Artyom Borovik in a mysterious plane crash,
have introduced a new fear into reporters.
/// BIVENS ACT TWO ///
You don't want to be too much of a conspiracy
theory hound, but when things pile up one after
another after another, and at the same time the
government is talking about greater control over
the media, and the media will be punished if
they do this and punished if they do that, then
journalists get scared.
/// END ACT ///
Mr. Bivens says even the limited media freedom that
blossomed under former President Boris Yeltsin has
quickly disintegrated since former K-G-B spy Vladimir
Putin came to power.
/// BIVENS ACT THREE ///
When Boris Yeltsin was president, a lot of the
watchwords of that era were press freedom,
freedom, democracy, civil liberty. And now all
we ever talk about security, safety, and the
state. And that's a change that has come in
with Putin.
/// END ACT ///
Mr. Bivens says the attack on the Novaya Gazeta
computer is likely to be an effective warning to other
Russian journalists about the danger of challenging
the government's version of the Ryazan bomb incident.
The story has been covered in the Western press, but
has been largely ignored by local media.
Meanwhile, Russia's widely watched state-run
television Thursday prominently featured reports
saying investigations have positively linked Chechen
terrorists to last September's apartment house
bombings. A senior F-S-B investigator said quick work
by security services had prevented six other
explosions in Moscow.
No mention was made of the Ryazan bomb incident.
(Signed)
NEB/PFH/JWH/KL
16-Mar-2000 14:09 PM EDT (16-Mar-2000 1909 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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