IV
104TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. CON. RES. 95
Expressing the sense of the Congress concerning freedom of the press in
Russia.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
AUGUST 4, 1995
Mr. LANTOS (for himself and Mr. GILMAN) submitted the following concurrent
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on International Relations
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
Expressing the sense of the Congress concerning freedom
of the press in Russia.
Whereas the end of the cold war and the collapse of the So-
viet Union has brought new and unique opportunities for
democratic political change and market-oriented economic
reform in Russia;
Whereas the commitment to the spirit of these democratic re-
forms and to the full implementation of these reforms
has been tentative and inconclusive thus far;
Whereas one of the fundamental tenets of democracy and one
of the most important means of assuring the continuation
of democratic government is an independent and free
press, which can exist only in an environment that is free
of state control of the media and the absence of any form
HCON 95 IH
of state censorship or official coercion of any kind and is
protected by the rule of law;
Whereas freedom of the press and freedom of expression in
Russia today is being threatened by elements within the
Russian Government, particularly since the dramatic re-
porting of the war in Chechnya;
Whereas there have been reports in the Russian press, includ-
ing the official press, of efforts to establish a government
committee that could impose censorship on the press in
Russia;
Whereas there have been persistent reports regarding the
possible issuance of government decrees that would un-
dermine or compromise the independence of privately
owned television stations and other media enterprises
which have provided factual reporting on the war in
Chechnya or which have editorialized against Russian
military action in Chechnya;
Whereas there has been recent evidence of government in-
volvement in actions against independent television out-
lets and those who use or finance such businesses, includ-
ing a widely reported search by unidentified government
security forces of the office of the Most Group, which
owns NTV and other media outlets, and, furthermore, al-
legations of the involvement of presidential security forces
in that search have never been denied;
Whereas the latest effort to intimidate the press involves the
launching of a criminal investigation by the Prosecutor
General against the largest private television network,
NTV, threatening action against the producers of a polit-
ical satire program in which puppets are used to carica-
ture prominent Russian official and personalities;
HCON 95 IH
Whereas the suspicious murder on March 1 of popular tele-
vision journalist Vladimir Listeyev, executive director of
Russian Public Television, remains unsolved;
Whereas the assassination of investigative journalist Dmitri
Kholodov of Moskovsky Komsomolets, who was killed by
a package bomb while he was in the final stages of an
investigation into corruption in the military, also remains
unsolved after nearly one year;
Whereas journalists in Russia, including both foreign and do-
mestic journalists, have faced harassment, risked arrest,
had equipment confiscated, been beaten and even mur-
dered as a result of their efforts to report objectively re-
garding events in Chechnya; and
Whereas a free and independent information media is essen-
tial to the conduct of free, open, fair, and democratic
elections which are scheduled later this year in Russia:
Now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate
concurring), That it is the sense of the Congress that—
(1) a free press is vital to the development and
consolidation of democracy in Russia;
(2) freedom of the press and freedom of expres-
sion must be safeguarded against those forces which
would suppress or censor these fundamental demo-
cratic rights;
(3) to protect freedom of the press and freedom
of expression, the right and opportunity of independ-
ent entrepreneurs to establish, operate, and main-
HCON 95 IH
tain independent media outlets must be protected
and safeguarded;
(4) Russian Government leaders, including the
President, the Prime Minister, and Members of the
Russian Duma, should fully support freedom of the
press and the right of free expression in Russia; and
(5) the President and the Secretary of State are
requested to convey to appropriate Russian Govern-
ment officials, including the President, the Prime
Minister, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, this
expression of the views of the Congress.
Æ