Swapped Russian scribe may be dead

Moscow, FEB 7: The Russian media has flayed Kremlin for its handling of the scandal surrounding Andrei Babitsky, a Russian correspondent f...

Moscow, FEB 7: The Russian media has flayed Kremlin for its handling of the scandal surrounding Andrei Babitsky, a Russian correspondent for US-funded Radio Liberty.

Babitsky, who angered the Russian military with his grim coverage of the Russian military campaign, has failed to surface since Russian security services handed him over to Chechens in exchange for two federal servicemen last Thursday. No government agency has taken responsibility for the bizarre swapping of a Russian citizen with two Russian soldiers. And Kremlin8217;s spokesman on the Chechen operation, Sergei Yastrzhembsky, has washed his hands off the Babitsky case, saying after the swap, federal authorities were no longer responsible for the radio correspondent8217;s fate.

The head of Russia8217;s secret services said on Monday said that Babitsky was alive but his whereabouts were unknown. 8220;Babitsky is alive, but I do not know where he is. You should ask someone else about that,8221; Nikolai Patrushev, the head of Russia8217;s Federal Security ServiceFSB, was quoted as saying by Interfax. The Radio Liberty management in Moscow has expressed fears that Babitsky has been killed. The reporter has failed to contact his agency in Moscow since his arrest. Commenting on the controversial deal, Russia8217;s Prosecutor General Vladimir Ustinov on Friday said only that the swap was handled by 8220;special services8221;.

But Alexander Zdanovich, the Press secretary of the Federal Security Service FSS Russia8217;s top security agency, has since denied any involvement of the FSB in the Babitsky8217;s swap, saying his service played no role in the exchange, even though the video-tape of the dramatic swap was made by an FSB officer.

Zdanovich also alleged that 1.5 billion had arrived in Russia 8220;from Arab countries8221; with the purpose of lobbying the Chechen cause in the media. Russian army also denied any wrong had been done to Babitsky. 8220;Babitsky is not Arnold Schwarzenegger and he8217;s not a banker, so they Chechens must have valued him for his information, which suggeststhat information he had been supplying was not always objective,8221; Russian Defence Minister Igor Sergeyev told ORT television, while defending the swapping of the radio journalist with two Russian service men.

The Kremlin8217;s clumsy handling of Babitsky8217;s case triggered a furore in the Russian media which has generally been supportive of the Chechen campaign. The Kremlin has sentenced Babitsky without a trial and has silenced the press, liberal newspaper Segodnya wrote, describing the move what it called, a part of Kremlin8217;s strategy to win the 8220;disinformation war8221; against Russia, launched by the West.

Nezavisimaya Gazeta said that the bizarre swap was a 8220;blow8221; to Russia8217;s international prestige. 8220;It8217;s obvious that the initiators of Babitsky8217;s arrest worked independently and more than likely without the sanction of the country8217;s political leadership.8221; Leading business daily Kommersant called the move 8220;absurd8221; and 8220;an encroachment on free speech8221;.

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Lately, the correspondents of all Russiantelevisions covering the operation have complained of the restrictions imposed on their movements by the Russian forces in Chechnya. The military has channelled all information relating to the war through a new Press centre 8220;Rosinformtsenter8221; specially set up in Moscow for the purpose.