Tom Lantos: “as President Clinton makes his way to the G-8 Summit in Japan, there is no more important item on the agenda than to…”

“as President Clinton makes his way to the G-8 Summit in Japan, there is no more important item on the agenda than to tell Mr. Putin, the President of Russia, that the persecution and the harassment of the free press in Russia must come to an end. I have called to my colleagues' attention in the last few weeks the systematic harassment and persecution of the one remaining free media network in Russia. Yesterday this persecution was escalated to a new level when the Government authorities took steps to seize the personal property of Vladimir Gusinsky, the head of Media-Most which owns NTV Television Network, Echo of Moscow Radio, and other independent media ventures. Mr. Putin must understand that there is no room for Russia in the community of free and democratic nations, if he and his thugs are determined to destroy a free press. This harassment must come to an end, or relations between the free democracies of the world and the new totalitarian Russia will take a serious turn for the worse.”