#8
BBC Monitoring
Chechen NGOs condemn timing of Russian TV's "anti-Chechen" film
Source: Chechenpress web site, Tbilisi, in Russian 13 May 03
13 May: Statement by the Council of Nongovernmental Organizations of the Chechen Republic.

The day before Russia's main holiday - Victory Day - Russian Channel One TV showed a film called "Lubyanka" to millions of viewers. The film could be described as a programme about the "Chechen events". The film-makers either forgot or deliberately ignored the fact that 9 May is also a holiday for many people in the Chechen Republic. The date chosen for showing the film was also deliberate, which is a true insult to the Chechens (hundreds of thousands of them) whose fathers and grandfathers fought against the German fascists.

[Passage omitted: similar ideas]

Broadcasting a film which is in fact anti-Chechen the day before the national holiday creates a parallel between World War II and the Chechen war and puts Chechnya and the Chechen people on a par with fascist Germany.

[Passage omitted: more criticism; names of the authors - heads of Chechen NGOs]