Just a week ago ministry officials said that Radio Liberty should have its license pulled in Russia because its broadcasts, particularly on Chechnya, are hostile to the state. After the attack on Media Most Russian Press Minister Mikhail Lesin, who is believed to have taken part in planning the raid, declared that press freedoms were not endangered. The state has no reason to be protected against a free press. In fact, in our view, the best protection a democratic society can have is a free press. However, there is an alarming trend here as the Russian Press Ministry is being transformed into a weird combination of on Orwellian Ministry of Truth and private media company, as the minister himself has extensive business interests which may conflict with.
Freedom of press is a very new phenomenon in Russia.
It is also the first target for those Russian officials who consider democratic values and institutions a nuisance and would like to reverse democratic reforms in Russia. Their goal is to establish a more authoritarian regime to control both political life and all major economic assets of the nation. In the final analysis, Russia s problems should be managed by Russians themselves, after all it is up to us, to all Russians, to decide whether we would like to live in a modern society, enjoying freedom of the press among other political and economic freedoms, or would accept political authoritarianism and crony capitalism. Still, today s Russia cannot and should not become an isolated nation. For too long there was an iron curtain between it and the West.