Three board members of a popular broadcaster often critical of the Kremlin were sacked Tuesday on the orders of its owner, Russian energy giant Gazprom, staff at the Ekho Moskvy (Moscow's Echo) radio station said.
Aleksei Venediktov, Aleksandr Makovsky and Yegeny Yasin were removed from the station's board of directors by decision of Gazprom-Media, a holding company with a controlling 66-per-cent stake in Ekho Moskvy.
Gazprom-Media spokeswoman Irina Zenikova told the Interfax news agency their removal was a business decision which would not affect Ekho Moskvy's independent reporting.
'The board of directors is a managing agency whose job is running the business,' Zenikov was quoted as saying. 'The board of directors does not involve itself in editorial issues.'
Station staff have argued that the decision has been influenced by the existence of close ties between Gazprom and Russia's political leadership.
They say Ekho Moskvky is one of the few remaining media outlets in the country still willing to make public news showing the government in a poor light. 'We understand that Gazprom-Media had to react to criticism of top government officials by our station,' editorial staff said in a statement.
The sackings came in the wake of a publicly-aired January meeting between Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Venediktov, during which Putin complained that Ekho Mosvky 'pours trash all over me.'
Putin is the candidate for the ruling Nasha Rossiya (Our Russia) political party in a March 4 presidential race. Dmitry Peskov, a Putin spokesman, dismissed allegations that the sackings were political. 'Any attempt to link the internal processes of Ekho Moskvy with criticism of Putin ... is baseless,' the spokesman said.
Mikhail Prokhorov, a Russian oligarch and a candidate opposing Putin, offered to help find cash to buy out shares in the broadcaster so as to give full ownership of the station to staff.
'I am offering the editorial council of the Ekho Moskvy radio station assistance in getting a low-cost credit loan to buy out ownership,' Prokhorov said at a press conference in Moscow. 'The station's independence must be preserved,' he said, in comments reported by the Interfax news agency.
Venediktov, in a Twitter message, said he was 'saddened' that he had been sacked, but said he expected to carry on as the station's chief editor. We assure our listeners that the editorial policies of Ekho Moskvy will be unchanged,' the staff statement said. 'We will continue to work ... as the station has in the past.'
Ekho Mosvky in recent months has reported in detail on alleged election fraud in favour of Nasha Rossiya during a December parliamentary election, and on massed anti-government protests in January and February. It is one of the very few Russian media that routinely criticises Putin by name.
