FORMERLY EUR 0730 Evidence has emerged that a missing Russian journalist who covered the Chechen war for the American-funded Radio Liberty is alive.

A tape brought by an unknown man to the BBC Moscow bureau and later aired on Russian television showed the journalist, Andrey Babitsky, looking weary and saying "it is the sixth of February" and that he wanted to go home.

Mr Babitsky's coverage of the fighting had angered Moscow.

Last month the Russians said he'd been arrested for working without accreditation.

Later they said he'd been turned over to the Chechen rebels in return for Russian prisoners of war.

The rebels deny holding him, and Radio Liberty says it believes Mr Babitsky's being detained in the Russian-controlled town of Gudermes. The station says it holds the acting Russian President, Vladimir Putin, responsible for Mr Babitsky's fate.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service