Western Press Continues Bias Over Chechnya

The Times, a reputable British daily newspaper, today printed an article which is typical of the western press coverage of the war against the Chechen terrorists, reflecting an ignorance which is blatantly apparent: the West does not understand that Russia’s war is against Chechen terrorists and foreign mercenaries, not the Chechen people.

The article, written by Robin Shepherd, “Refugees reveal the other side of terrorism” tellingly refers to the terrorists as “separatists” and claims that the lives of the Chechen citizens deteriorated after President Vladimir Putin sent the armed forces to attack Chechen terrorist positions in 1999. After interviewing a Chechen car mechanic, who claims his sister was raped by a drunken Russian soldier, the article goes on to claim that “In the Chechen refugee camps of Ingushetia, everyone has a similar story”.

This absurd statement claims that 110,000 Chechen refugees have been badly treated by the Russian troops, a notion which is as demonstrative of bad journalism as it is of innocence, at best, and extreme bias, at worst. Nothing is said of the Russian humanitarian programmes working inside Chechnya and Ingushetia and there is no mention of the excellent relations between the Russian Federation Armed Forces and the Chechen civilians they are risking their lives for to protect.

The article paints a picture of sympathy for the terrorists, who are referred to as “separatists” and “hostage-takers” who have run out of options and so they had no other course of action to follow. This is paramount to condoning the terrorist attack on the Moscow theatre where 119 people died, plus the fifty terrorists.

The fact that an article of this calibre with such a blatant anti-Russian slant can be published in what claims to be a “quality” British daily newspaper speaks volumes about the British press, and more sinister than this, gives a frightening insight into the mind-set of the West, which winks at Russia with one eye but hides a knife behind its back.

So much for friendship and solidarity.

Timothy BANCROFT-HINCHEY PRAVDA.Ru