It was reported just now that Confederation of Journalists' Unions awarded Julia Kalinina, journalist of Moskovskij Komsomolets and Radical member - together with other journalists who gave themselves as voluntary hostages to the Chechen rebels - with the "Prize For Courage".

While all the voluntary hostages were released yesterday evening in Zandak village (Vedeno district, Chechnya), three journalists remained with Shamil Basaev's group in order to follow the events: two correspondents of Radio Liberty - Andrej Babitskij and Anatolij Streljanyj, as well as Julia Kalinina.

This morning the village of Zandak, where at that time Shamil Basaev's group was still present, was fired on by Russian artillery. At 15.00 she was on line with Radio Liberty in direct air from near Vedeno. At 16.00 Moscow time she called her editorial office.

Since that time there is no news about movement of Basaev's column with Julia, Andrej and Anatolij. It is not possible to call them, they have only one-way connection... However, there is danger that federal forces will try to catch or annihilate the Basaev's group, since they stay now without alive shield.