Novoe Vremya journalist Natalia Morar reports on her blog that she has been “officially designated as a danger to the safety and security of Russia.” Readers will remember that the Moldovan born, permanent Russian resident was refused reentry into Russia in December. According to Kommersant, when she tried to enter Russia through Domodedovo airport, border officers informed her that “her presence in Russia was “undesirable” and they were acting on a directive of the “central apparatus of the FSB.”
It wouldn’t be surprising if this is true. Morar is known for articles detailing corruption within the Russian political elite. She has recently turned her pen to the current “Siloviki War.” In a recent article on that subject she detailed the various factions and infighting between members of Russia’s various security organs over the right to preserve Russia’s “order.” The “Siloviki War” is clearly about a lot of things–power, corruption, and theft. But is also about a long standing fight in Russia between “legality” and “security.” Or to put it clearer, the grand notion that the FSB and other organs should work according to the rule of law and not practice unfettered “gangsterism.” Clearly someone within the clans is talking to Morar and using her pen to wage a PR war against their rivals. Therefore its not surprising that her aticles would piss someone off enough to designate her persona non grata in Russia.
But until now Morar didn’t receive an official explanation why she isn’t allowed back in Russia. She finally got an answer the other day. An official letter from the Russian embassy in Moldova stated that she was barred from Russia under Article 27, Section 1 “On the manner of exiting and entering the Russian Federation.” The article states:
Article 27: Entry into the Russian Federation is denied to a foreign citizen or a person without citizenship in cases if:
It is necessary for providing safety and security of the state, or preserving public order, or the defense of the population’s health.
“This is simply hilarious,” she writes. “Can someone explain to me how a 24 year old female journalist can be called a danger to security of such a strong state like Russia?”
Good question.
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Lyndon on January 20, 2008 9:22 pm sorry to be so long replying – been busy. You pose some fundamental questions.
Perhaps I am idealizing the journalist’s role too much. Maybe I’ve seen too many movies about heroic journalists taking on the corrupt corporations.
Probably. Particularly in the States there is a romantic view of journalism that does not sit well with reality past or present. Read David Edwards & David Cornwell Guardians of power: The Myth of the Liberal Media ISBN 0745324827. You don’t have to agree with everything but the undisputed fact is bad enough.
Are you suggesting that writing about political intrigue and corruption in Moscow is now as dangerous as being a war correspondent?
Actually I pointed out more or less the opposite that the number of journalists being killed in Russia had fallen under Putin to none or one, not risen as is often implied in the Western press. That should be acknowledged even if you then say it is because the journalists have learnt to keep their mouths shut or whatever but it should not be ignored as if it never happened. This is particularly the case as the all time world record for murdering journalists is in Western occupied Iraq.
I find it distasteful that journalists in dangerous countries are constantly egged on to take serious risks whilst in the West the great majority of journalists do not want to take the relatively minor risk of spoiling their careers. The western media is largely self censoring. There is no great plot; it is simply that if you do not hold views that are reasonably acceptable to the political and business establishment you don’t get into prominent media jobs. It is no coincidence that Chomsky who has analysed this problem so well is a distinguished philologist. Take the Kosovo affair. Hardly anywhere will a journalist spell it out that in giving Kosovo independence the Western powers involved are breaking their word given in resolution 1244 of the UN security council that ended the war, that Kosovo is an integral part of Serbia. They just slide past it and say that the Serbs are sentimental about Kosovo because it was the cradle of their civilisation etc which is not a lie, but it is far from the whole truth.
I am not saying what journalists should do or governments should do. Total secrecy is the friend of tyranny and oppression. Absolute press freedom is impossible and in an unstable or a divided society a contributor to chaos. There will always be a struggle between media and power but it seems to me wrong constantly to harp on the failures of one and apparently ignore the very obvious limitations of the other. Criticism should at least be balanced and accurate. AFP are still writing that the Iranian President said that ‘Isreal should be wiped from the face fo the earth’ when it is quite clear that whatever he said it was not that. A further complicating factor is the now well established fact that, particularly in poor developing countries, powerful outsiders urge democracy and press freedom and then use those very freedoms to undermine the government of the country in question to dispose of leaders who do not do what they are told. Read Stephen Kinzer ‘Otherthrow: America’s century of regime change from Hawaii to Iraq’ Times Books New York 2006. An important reason, but not the sole one, Cuba became a dictatorship was because Castro saw what happened to democratic Guatemala a few years before and was determined to remain independant. One thing I think is essential is a more humble and constructive attitude from critics in the West. Thank goodness for the internet, otherwise I doubt if I would know what the exact terms of UNSCR 1244 are.
“Or, well, sorry, I do it anyway.”
I do it all the time!
“By the way, Sean, the eXile translated your piece into Russian”
Thanks for the tip, Chris. Now I finally know how to pronounce the name of the esteemed and hard working author of this blog: Шон Гиллори.
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