 On June 23, 2005, Babitsky managed to interview Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev.The interview was first broadcast on ABC on July 28 and incurred the wrath of Russian officials.Babitsky was living in Prague, Czech Republic where RFERL headquarters were located when in 2014 he fell out with Radio Liberty over his advocating the 2014 Russian annexation of Crimea.