Two more journalists disappeared in Chechnya

Chelyabinsk journalists disappeared in the Chechen mountains
They were looking for their fellow countryman
Two journalists from the Chelyabinsk region disappeared in Chechnya - photojournalist of the newspaper "Satkinsky Rabochiy" Alexander Utrobin and correspondent of the newspaper "Satkinsky Metallurgist" Olga Bagautdinova. They came to the republic to find a fellow countryman who disappeared eight months ago.

Utrobin and Bagautdinova arrived in Grozny on March 3. At the request of the Committee of Soldiers' Mothers of the Chelyabinsk Region, they began searching for Private Andrei Sidorov, who disappeared in Chechnya eight months ago, and was called up from the city of Satka. The journalists turned for help to the Grozny Committee of Soldiers' Mothers, where they were advised to look for a fellow countryman in the mountain villages. On March 15, Utrobin and Bagautdinova headed for the mountains, and since then no one has seen them.
Yesterday in Grozny a meeting of a special commission was held under the chairmanship of the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the republic, Kazbek Makhashev. The situation with the missing South Ural journalists was discussed. According to the minister, he did not know at all that correspondents from the city of Satka were working in Chechnya. Makhashev claims that “not one of the allegedly missing journalists ... applied to the Ministry of Internal Affairs with a request to provide them with protection, although law enforcement agencies have repeatedly stated the need for such a procedure.”
The representative of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs in Chechnya, General Vyacheslav Vorontsov, does not yet know anything about the missing journalists. He does not rule out that no one kidnapped Utrobin and Bagautdinova and they simply got lost in the mountains. If this is so, then they have practically no chance of survival.
The Grozny Committee of Soldiers' Mothers reported the incident to Chelyabinsk, to the local union of journalists. From there they turned to State Duma deputy Yuri Shchekochikhin for help. Today he will fly to Grozny and join the search.

ALEXANDER Kommersant-SASHIN

Newspaper "Kommersant" No. 44 dated 04/03/1997, p. 2