Add to favorite
 
123
Subscribe to our Newsletters Subscribe to our Newsletters Get Daily Updates RSS
russian visa


Key Opposition Paper Lost Sponsor
December 14, 2012 21:39

Novaya Gazeta has lost its key sponsor after he fell out of favour with the Kremlin.

Alexander Lebedev, a former KGB agent turned banker and newspaper baron, worth $1.1bn according to Forbes, has stopped funding to one of Russia’s leading opposition and investigative newspapers, Novaya Gazeta.

Love of press

The move comes a month after he mentioned Novaya Gazeta, and not the bank or anything else, as his main cause he can pride himself on over the past seven years. The statement was made in one of his weekly reflections posted on Youtube in November 2012.

Lebedev bought the edition in 2006 together with Mikhail Gorbachev, the first and the last Soviet president.

Moving on

Dmitry Muratov, Novaya Gazeta’s editor-in-chief, believes the edition can survive thanks to the growing ad revenues, cost optimization schemes. The paper insists it does not plan any layoffs.

Another option, the edition says, is for Lebedev to hand over his stake in the newspaper to journalists so that they could find an investor themselves.

Falling out with the Kremlin

Lebedev and his bank, National Reserve Bank, have come under increasing pressure from Russia’s security services due to what the businessman calls his relentless criticism of state corruption.

In particular, he is facing up to 5 years in prison as part of a criminal case that was opened on hooliganism charges after he punched Sergey Polonsky, a property developer, in the face live on Russian television.

In his November weekly podcast on Youtube, he voiced a theory that it was his Novaya Gazeta that angered movers and shakers in the higher echelons of power.

In that video he says he will focus on Novaya Gazeta, because he doesn't see he has future as a businessman in Russia.

Lebedev is also the owner of four UK newspapers, the London Evening Standard, The Independent, the Independent on Sunday and the new i newspaper.

Read more on his biography and career in a Russia-IC article here.




Author: Mikhail Vesely

Tags: Russian banks Russian media    

Next Previous

You might also find interesting:

A New Type of Support Guarantee Loans to Small Businesses was Launched in Moscow Football: CSKA Facing Tough UEFA Sanctions 2014 Sochi Olympics Suprises Agreement On “Turkish Stream” Was Ratified Igor Akinfeev Apologized for His Mistake









Comment on our site


RSS   twitter      submit


Ïàðòåð


TAGS:
Lyudinovo  Russian scientists  Russian football  Exhibitions in Moscow  Documentary Film Festival "Russia"  Boris Grebenshchikov  Gryazi  Patriotism  St. Petersburg  Alexey Navalny  Figure Skating  Moscow  Russian souvenirs  Bolshoi Theatre  Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Russia  The Museum of Romance   WTO accession  Film Festival "Message to Man"  Moscow actions  universities ranking  Russian Cinema  Aeroflot  Botanical Garden   Russian monarchs  Tula Region  parks of Perm  Russian Rock  Russian parliament  Golden Fang  Russian modern history  Book Tickets for Ballet  Kolomna  Russian science  sky-scrapers in Moscow  Stavropol Territory  Archaeology  Maria Sharapova  Russian business  Igor Denisov  Skolkovo  Opposition  International space station  Decembrists  system of governmental scientific attestation  Sverdlovsk region  Sochi Olympic Games 2014  Russian economy  corruption  Tutaev  Russian tourism 


Travel Blogs
Top Traveling Sites