William Helms: “during the past 5 months the Government of Russia has waged a brutal war against Chechnya. The Kremlin's indiscriminate…”

“during the past 5 months the Government of Russia has waged a brutal war against Chechnya. The Kremlin's indiscriminate use of force has left countless thousands of innocents dead and hundreds of thousands homeless on the icy plains and in the snow-covered mountains of the Caucasus. We all have seen the photos of Grozny, a city subjected to a travesty not witnessed in Europe since the siege of Stalingrad and the leveling of Warsaw in World War II. Indeed, what has been done to Grozny surpasses even the havoc Milosevic wrought upon the towns and cities of Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo. It is difficult to believe, but it is true. In a time when Western Governments have turned a blind eye to this conflict, the ability of journalists to report objectively on the horrors of this war becomes all the more important to the effort to bring an end to this violence and establish a just peace. Russian President Vladimir Putin appears to recognize this only too well. As a consequence, freedom of the press, a cornerstone of democracy, has become another victim of his government and his war against Chechnya. Mr. President, the Russian government is today systematically censoring the press and attempting to use it to disseminate misinformation about public events. Journalists in Russia who report on the war and other matters in a manner contradicting the Putin Government do so at great risk.”