Danish Journalist Denied Visa

In another escalation of pressure against independent-minded journalists, Russia has denied a visa to a Danish reporter. The international press freedom organization Reporters Without Borders issued a statement declaring its suspicion that the refusal was motivated at least in part by Vibeke Sperling’s articles about the war in Chechnya.

Sperling, now with the Danish daily Politiken, had worked for many years as a Moscow correspondent and had never previously been denied a visa or accreditation as a journalist, even during the Soviet years. She revealed that the press attache at the Russian consulate in Copenhagen had declared that some of her articles about Chechnya were “wrong.”