VLADIVOSTOK, July 31 (RIA Novosti) - Russian Defense Ministry revokes accreditation of the U.S. ABC TV network in Russia for airing the interview with leader of Chechen militants Shamil Basayev, Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov told a news conference here Sunday.
"I instructed the head of the ministry's press service to order all Russian military personnel to avoid contacts with ABC representatives. We will continue our cooperation with the media in general, but we will never invite this network to the ministry and will refuse to give it any interviews," the minister said.
Commenting on the airing of Basayev's interview on ABC, the minister said, "to put it simply, I am outraged."
In his interview, Basayev justified the hostage-taking on Dubrovka in Moscow and the blasts aboard two Russian planes last year. Regarding the school hostage-taking in Beslan, a town in North Ossetia where 330 people were killed, including 186 children, on September 1-3, 2004, Basayev said he "did not cross the line yet." He openly called himself a terrorist and promised new terrorist acts in the future.
