By Sharon LaFraniere
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, February 9, 2000; Page A17

MOSCOW, Feb. 8—The Russian government strove today to defend itself against a rising chorus of criticism over its treatment of missing Radio Liberty reporter Andrei Babitsky, saying that Babitsky's arrest and release into the hands of Chechen rebels did not merit international attention.

Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said he regrets that the West, lacking other grounds on which to fault Russia, has seized upon Babitsky's case for propaganda reasons. Babitsky has not been in touch with his family or Radio Liberty colleagues in more than three weeks, but Interior Minister Vladimir Rushaylo insisted today that he is "safe and sound" in Chechen hands. Rushaylo said this had been confirmed through "intercepted radio communications" and other intelligence data.

Babitsky, 35, was covering the Chechen war for the U.S.-financed radio network in mid-January when he was arrested by the Russian military on grounds that he lacked proper accreditation and was suspected of collaborating with the rebels. He was held incommunicado for at least 10 days until last Thursday, when Russian officials say they turned him over to the rebels in exchange for several captive Russian soldiers. Chechen political leaders, however, deny Babitsky is with the rebels and say they have never heard of the guerrilla commander the Russians say took part in the exchange.

Human rights organizations have denounced the reported swap as a violation of international norms on treatment of civilians in war zones, and Babitsky's colleagues say they fear the Russian military may have staged the exchange to cover up Babitsky's death at the hands of the military. Russian officials have said that Babitsky agreed to the trade and that it came about at the suggestion of the rebels, who view him as a supporter.

According to a Radio Liberty broadcast today, acting President Vladimir Putin explained the government's rationale for the exchange at a closed meeting Friday with a group of seven Russian newspaper editors. The editors were warned not to publicize Putin's remarks, the station said, and it did not identify the source of its information.

The station said Putin told the group that he considered it more important to free captured Russian soldiers than to protect Babitsky. When an editor pointed out that Babitsky was a Russian citizen, the report said, Putin replied that Babitsky had been willing to take part in the trade, and asked: "Would you agree in his situation?"

Referring to the Chechen rebels, Putin added: "Now Babitsky will have fear; he will learn who he [went] to," the station reported. The Kremlin has not commented on the broadcast.

In a television interview tonight, a Russian army captain said he was one of those freed in exchange for Babitsky. Andrei Astranets said that in nine months of captivity he suffered constant beatings and saw Chechen guards kill two Russian hostages. On Saturday, he said, he and another officer were taken away suddenly and told that "they exchanged us for some correspondent," Astranets said.

In Chechnya, a Russian press spokesman told reporters that "nothing has happened to Babitsky" yet but that his fate depends "on the people with whom Babitsky is staying." He also dismissed Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov's statement that Babitsky is not in Chechen hands, saying such denials are part of "the terrorists' game."

At a news conference today, Radio Liberty editors asserted that if Babitsky were alive he almost certainly would have contacted his family by now. Vladimir Dolin, a Radio Liberty reporter who searched for Babitsky in Chechnya, said one refugee told him he heard a Russian officer boasting about how he had beaten Babitsky after his arrest. He said another woman told him that her nephew was held with Babitsky at a "filtration" camp and that the reporter had been tortured.