(..)The four national channels all tried hard to give viewers as much information as possible and arouse sympathy in them for the Americans. All the channels showed how ordinary Muscovites came to lay flowers outside the American embassy. But the state channels also had another mission before them - a state mission.

ORT was particularly zealous in this respect, following President Vladimir Putin's address with the jubilant comment that, "Now the West will finally support our policy in Chechnya. Now they will see that Putin was right when he started the war against Chechen terrorism." ORT dug up old statements by Putin condemning terrorism and repeated them over and over.

On Wednesday, speaking on a daytime show for housewives called "Prosto Marina," politician Konstantin Borovoi tried to say that the only way to make sure the tragedy in the United States wasn't repeated in Russia was to end the war in Chechnya.

But the show's presenter cut him off abruptly. "We're not here to send messages to our leadership," she said. "We're here to express our support for the American people."

There's no doubt that the state channels will continue to use the attacks in America to justify Putin's policies in Chechnya, but this doesn't detract from the efforts they made in their work during that terrible day.(..)