MOSCOW, August 8 (RIA Novosti political commentator Peter Lavelle with Dr. Robert Bruce Ware). Over the past week, Western pundits have ridiculed the Kremlin over the fact that Andrei Babitsky was able to interview self-proclaimed Chechen terrorist Shamil Basayev undetached by security forces in the war torn republic.
What the same pundits have overlooked - most likely purposely - is that Babitsky and his employer, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, have presented conflicting accounts surrounding the interview.
The August 4 interview Novaya Gazeta published with RFE/RL employee Andrei Babitsky and the interview RIA Novosti conducted with RFE/RL Director of Communications Donald Jensen on the same day are very much at odds and, in many ways, appear to be an attempt to present a different timeline of events.
Compare the following statements:
RIA: Isn't it true that content from RFE/RL, VOA, etc. are prohibited from being broadcast in the U.S. by law?
Donald Jensen: Yes, but in this case, ABC broadcasted the material, which Andrei Babitsky took on his time with his own camera.
Novaya Gazeta: Andrei Babitsky: The story was entirely different. This happened during my vacation. I used my own free time. I used my own camera, which I've owned for a number of years. And I was not doing the interview for Radio Liberty. What's more, I set out to record an audio interview with (a Chechen terrorist leader) Doku Umarov, with the understanding that it might be aired on Radio Liberty. I didn't intend to meet with Basayev - actually, I wasn't even seriously considering the possibility until it happened.
The claim Babitsky was on "vacation" or conducted the Basayev interview "on his own time" is flimsy at best; worse it sounds like a cover-up before, during, and after the fact. How in the world are we expected to accept Babitsky's claim he was on "vacation" when he "set out to record an audio interview with Doku Umarov." How could Babitsky be on vacation if there was an "understanding that it might be aired on Radio Liberty"?
Babitsky's own words clearly portray him to have been on assignment for his employer. His own words show him to have been on a "fishing expedition" with his employer's knowledge and consent. It also remains unclear with whom Babitsky had this understanding. It certainly does not appear Babitsky had a direct understanding with Jensen.
Jensen, nevertheless, appears to confirm Babitsky was on an RFE/RL-sanctioned expedition after the fact: "He took it on his own time, as I said, with his own camera. RFE/RL has not aired the interview and is considering what use, if any, to make of it." How can RFE/RL be "considering what use, if any, to make of it," if RFE/RL does not own Babitsky's material? Does this mean that RFE/RL will buy material from one of its own employees?
RFE/RL may not have assigned Babitsky to go to Chechnya or paid for his trip, but it certainly appears to have had prior knowledge Babitsky intended to travel to Chechnya with a work schedule and had a prior agreement with RFE/RL regarding its access to, or potential use of, his material from Chechnya.
Most people traveling to Russia for vacation arrive at one of its airports. Yet Babitsky saw this as "risky." Consider the following passage from the Novaya Gazeta interview:
Question: The ABC program describes how you reached Chechnya via Ukraine, Kerch...
Andrei Babitsky: I decided that flying in was too risky, since my arrival in Russia would be more easily detected at an airport. So I went in by road, crossing a border where the controls are very weak - the Russian-Ukrainian border. I think that helped me reach my destination without being noticed.
If Babitsky was going on "vacation" then why did he think that it would be too "risky" to fly into Russia? Why did he take pains to slip in through what he describes as a border "where the controls are very weak"? What kind of covert holiday was this?
The use of the term "vacation" by Babitsky and RFE/RL is, at best, highly ambiguous, and at worst, disingenuous. People usually stretch and contort a term like this when they want to use a word to hide something. It appears that something is being hidden here, and that appearance inevitably invites speculation.
Babitsky's interview with Novaya Gazeta, Jensen's interview with RIA Novosti, and various statements made by other parties to this affair, combine to lend plausibility to the following scenario:
Shamil Basayev decides that he needs to get back in the news to raise funds for his terrorist activities and to "redeem" himself by attempting to justify the Beslan atrocity. Basayev remembers his longstanding and reliable relationship with Babitsky. Through various channels, Babitsky learns there is an opportunity to interview Basayev and Umarov. Babitsky informs his superiors at RFE/RL of this opportunity (and not necessarily with Donald Jensen knowing of this at the time). RFE/RL shows interest in the idea but says "you can't do it on company time." RFE/RL officially does not formally send Babitsky to Chechnya, but Babitsky travels to Chechnya with the knowledge and consent of RFE/RL for the purpose of conducting interviews that RFE/RL retains rights to consider. Babitsky notifies Chechen intermediaries that he is on his way. Without appropriate accreditation, Babitsky (illegally?, covertly?, surreptitiously?) enters Russia. He conducts his interviews as previously agreed. Upon Babitsky's return to Prague, RFE/RL realizes that the interviews are too hot for it to carry. RFE/RL may have considered its course of action over a period of up to two weeks. Alternatively, Babitsky may have decided to "freelance" his interview to a major American television network for a fistful of dollars. After all, he was on "vacation."
ABC's decision to give its microphone to an avowed terrorist was irresponsible and quite possibly illegal. Babitsky and RFE/RL may attempt to re-spin and re-explain themselves, but the credibility of both is in tatters. If Babitsky was on a "vacation" then it appears to have been a fishing expedition with the advance knowledge and consent of RFE/RL, and with a prior agreement that RFE/RL would retain access to Babitsky's catch.
No doubt this is why all this smells so fishy.
[Prof. Robert Bruce Ware, noted expert on the North Caucasus, is an associate professor at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.]
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and may not necessarily represent the opinions of the editorial board.
