No wonder the media called the fifth power. No, they do not issue the laws by which people live, they do not ensure that these laws are enforced. But journalists form the information field on which people's ideas about events taking place in the world are built. And that is a big responsibility. After all, this can be brought to war. It is not always possible to realize this without loss. The correspondent Elena Masiuk in the Chechen captivity had to feel responsibility for her words.
Skidded hard
In the early nineties, the country was overwhelmed by the spirit of freedom, from which literally everyone was intoxicated. Power, led by Boris Yeltsin, distributed sovereignty to the right and to the left, "how much you will carry in your hands." Citizens in orderly rows went into commerce and their "roof". The media exposed and scolded everyone and everything, calling it "freedom of speech." The profession of a whistleblower was held in high esteem. One of these freedom-loving journalists was Elena Masiuk.
She was born in 1966 in Alma-Ata, managed to work on local TV, and then went to conquer Moscow. She graduated from Moscow State University, faculty of journalism in 1993, completed an internship in America at CNN and at the Duke Institute. There, she absorbed the spirit of liberalism and holy faith in democratic ideals, and that power must be exposed. It’s young green, as they say, but it came in handy in those troubled times. She became a symbol of "Freedom of Speech" in the post-Soviet space. But all in order.
We are ours, we will build a new world
The young journalist began to gain experience in programs that were cult at the time: “Sight” and “Top Secret”. Then it was believed that the Soviet regime was to blame for all the troubles, but now we will remove it, and democracy will come, and immediately heal, as in paradise. Therefore, this very Soviet power was kicked by everyone who is not lazy, accelerating the "bright future". Naturally, the journalists were at the forefront.
Elena Masyuk, although she worked then in these programs, but only in the second or third roles. However, the ideas of universal democratic happiness strengthened in her young soul for the rest of her life. For her idealism, divorced from life, she will have to pay many, but this later, later. Everything seemed right now, and everything was going according to plan.
Star lit up
Elena Masiuk will reach her journalistic Olympus very soon. Already in 1994, her name will be the main one in reports from the first Chechen war. The journalist was then in the NTV team. This channel was part of the holding group of the oligarch Vladimir Gusinsky and was considered the main opposition channel in the country. The coverage of the first Chechen war on state channels went sluggishly. As the journalists themselves said, reports were made near the hotels, and pictures from the front line were bought either from the military or from the militants.
Against this background, the reports of a young brave correspondent from the very heart of the war were perceived as a revelation. For her work, she will receive many awards from American and Russian society. But not a single award can heal the emotional wounds of either Masyuk herself or those people who openly hate her.
Are you well fed?
I would like to believe that Elena Masyuk did not go to Chechnya for fame, but, as she said in an interview, honestly fulfill her civic duty. She was one of the few who sided with the militants, and in every possible way sang them in her reports as fighters for the freedom of the Republic of Ichkeria. At the same time, the guys from the federal troops were almost beasts that strangle the freedom-loving people.
Her reports of rebel leaders and where federal troops were shown as usurpers shaped public opinion in the West. And they spurred other radical journalists to rock the boat of public opinion. Either naivety, or holy faith in the bearded Robin Hoods forced Elena Masyuk not to notice obvious facts. While in the militant camps, she saw very well the conditions under which the prisoners were kept, while she interviewed them with the question: “Are you well fed?” And receives a joyful answer: “Yes, almost like my mother’s in the village.” Not a prisoner, but some kind of resort.
Diet from the militants
Elena Masyuk will tell how beautifully feed in captivity from her personal experience a few years later, and not so enthusiastically. Describing the noble struggle of Chechen fighters for freedom from the Russian Empire, Masiuk is silent about such a phenomenon in Chechnya as kidnapping and human trafficking. It all began spontaneously, at first they stole the “guilty” people in front of the commanders for ransom. Further more, they began to steal those who had at least some money. And then it was put on stream, they stole everything in a row, indiscriminately, including their compatriots. They didn’t redeem anyone, either they sold them into slavery, like Russian boy soldiers, or they killed them.
Local residents subsequently said that many survived and escaped captivity only because everyone had weapons.
On the walls of houses openly hung ads on the sale of live goods, indicating the age, physique and degree of health. The most coveted commodities were foreigners and journalists, since they were almost always redeemed for a lot of money. Elena could not even dream in a nightmare that by the grace of noble liberators she would be on the other side of the lattice and would eat one sausage, a piece of bread and a glass of tea per day.
Nothing personal just business
In May 1997, Elena, along with the crew, went on a regular business trip to Chechnya. On May 10, after a journalist interviewed Vakhu Arsanov, one of the prominent Dudayevites who was then deputy head of the Chechen security department, the film crew was captured. They asked for a ransom of two million dollars for her.
The first ten days they were kept in a pit where they could only sit, then they were constantly transported from place to place. Prisoners were kept in basements, in some caves that served as a den for bears. All the charm of life in captivity they had to learn from the inside. We will not hide the fact that many, and especially the Russian military, who fought in Chechnya for some reason, were gloating when the news of Masyuk’s capture spread. Finally, she learns the truth, which she considered herself to be the mouthpiece of. Of course, we can say that the Chechens have strongly framed Elena Masyuk, but for them it was just a business and nothing personal.
What fought for, then ran into
In any conflict, and especially in the military, it is very difficult to find the truth: the warring parties will have their own version of events and motives. Elena took the position of militants, believing that they are fighting for freedom, but for which? And when trouble happened to her, not one of the noble knights of Islam came to her rescue. She had to experience the flip side of the war of liberation in her own skin. The film crew was released only after three and a half months, in August. A ransom of two million dollars was paid for them. People were in terrible physical and moral condition.
At the press conference that was gathered after the return of the correspondents, only Elena spoke. She spoke about the horrors of captivity, the fear that they constantly felt. And in the end, she angrily uttered the phrase that journalists in Chechnya have nothing to do, even if they sit without journalists. So resentment escaped, because she believed that her reporting helps them to find freedom, and instead of gratitude … captivity and shame for life.
Wanted the truth? So eat
Several years will pass, and in 2004 the story of the capture of journalists will emerge again. What for? This time, journalist Julia Latynina distinguished herself - another fighter for truth and liberal ideals. In an interview on the same liberal channel "Echo of Moscow" she told the details of life in captivity Masiuk. It turned out that the journalist was constantly humiliated and raped, and this was done with particular cruelty, and all this was recorded on videotape. According to eyewitnesses, videotapes and photos of the captivity of Elena Masyuk were then sold on the Grozny market. These cassettes fell into the hands of the federal troops.
Why did Latynina do this? Out of jealousy or because of some pathological love of truth, no matter how unsightly it may be? Motives are hard to understand. Many years have passed, and to open up a aching wound, for what? But it is clear that the boomerang law worked: what Elena gave to the world, she received from him, no matter how cruel it may sound.
What goes around comes around
Elena in her reports from Chechnya to the whole world broadcast the sufferings of the Chechen people from the actions of federal troops. In one of the interviews, which she will give 20 years after captivity, she will say that she never gave sharp assessments of the actions of the federal troops. The correspondent objected to her, saying that it was her reports that formed a negative attitude towards the Russians in the minds of the audience. And public opinion will remember her for a long time, considering it a betrayal.
The journalist will very sharply respond to this public opinion, which she does not care about. It is not worth paying attention to, because it does not cost anything. She did nothing wrong, and she does not regret anything. Repeat the situation now, she would do the same. She is considered a popularizer of militants, but she sees everything differently. For example, the story of an interview with Basayev, whom the feds allegedly could not find anywhere. She went to Chechnya and interviewed him, showing the whole world that Basayev was in Chechnya, and that the authorities were simply lying.
Pain
The journalist has no choice but to defend herself and stand in the pose of a strong woman, but her further life is a series of disappointments and setbacks. The personal life of Elena Masyuk did not work out: she does not have a husband or children. Although she says she despises public opinion, she cannot get away from him anywhere. Do not turn away from those soldiers and officers who saw the militants mocking the prisoners: they beat him half to death, kicked him on the head until his eyes came out, pulled out his nostrils, etc.
Do not turn away from those eighteen-year-olds drafted into the army and immediately thrown into the heat of war. They were cannon fodder in the Chechen military company, they died, not understanding why. Mediocre politics, greed, and sometimes stupidity, forced thousands of men to fight and die in a meaningless war. But it’s not their fault, but pain. And with all this, presenting them as bloodthirsty invaders is beyond understanding. One of the officers, when he learned that Masyuk was released, could not stand such injustice:
When I found out that the plane had flown for Masyuk, I simply could not believe my ears. Our guys are not being released, and this reptile, who has been betraying us for years, has been doused with slops and dragged out. I did not believe that this was really happening. And after that I wanted to go to Moscow, to kill all the bastards there …
