His Excellency Boris Yeltsin
President of Russia
Office of the President
Moscow
Russian Federation

Vienna, 11 January 1995

Your Excellency,

The International Press Institute (IPI), representing publishers, editors-in-chief and leading journalists from newspapers, magazines, broadcasting organisations and news agencies in 89 countries, is most concerned about unconfirmed reports that the head of Russian state television is to be sacked because of his organization’s critical reporting on the conflict in Chechnya.

We are informed that Mr. Oleg Poptsov could be dismissed because of Russian TV’s supposed lack of objectivity in its coverage of the Chechen crisis. We understand that state television employees support Mr. Poptsov and have threatened to strike if he is fired.

IPI regards this incident as a clear threat to the freedom of the media in Russia and an attempt to control the free flow of information from the conflict zone. In a true democracy, it is essential that the media is able to comment on, and criticize, the actions of the government. We therefore strongly urge that Mr. Poptsov remain in his post and that journalists are allowed to report on events in Chechnya without further political interference.

We thank you for your attention.

Yours sincerely,

Johann P. Fritz
Director