Three top editors at a top Russian media group that has reported on the business interests of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s family quit on Friday, in the latest blow to the nation’s beleaguered media industry.
The RBC group’s daily newspaper recently published a number of high-profile investigations, including about the business interests of people close to Putin, among them his reported son-in-law.
The resignations came after the group controlled by billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov last month said that editor-in-chief Elizaveta Osetinskaya, 39, was set to leave to take a sabbatical to study at Stanford University in California.
Her temporary leave was then widely linked to Kremlin pressure on Prokhorov over the media group’s increasingly independent stance and investigative reporting.
Prokhorov’s offices were searched last month in what was believed to be a signal to the Kremlin-friendly tycoon to rein in his media managers.
The three editors leaving are Osetinskaya, editor-in-chief of the RBC media group; Roman Badanin, editor-in-chief of the group’s news agency; and Maxim Solyus, editor-in-chief of its daily newspaper.
“Recently, we have talked a lot about how to develop RBC further and in these conversations we have been unable to reach a common opinion on important issues,” RBC general director Nikolai Molibog said in a statement. “That is why we have decided to part ways.”
The group declined to comment on whether the editors departed under pressure from the Kremlin. Company spokesman Yegor Timofeyev said Osetinskaya would begin her studies at Stanford in September, declining further comment.
On Facebook, Osetinskaya thanked her supporters, but said she would not make any comment.
She added that she was “shocked” to see such an outpouring of support.
“That means it was not in vain,” she said.
Before taking the helm at RBC in late 2013, Osetinskaya was editor-in-chief of the Russian version of Forbes and was also in charge of the Web site of Vedomosti, Russia’s top liberal daily.
Media observers say that, during her tenure, Osetinskaya whipped the RBC group — previously known for its highly dubious practices — into shape, building it into one of Russia’s most widely read media outlets. Meduza, an independent Russian news portal based in Latvia, said the Kremlin is seeking to destroy the media outlet in its current form out of revenge.
“Friday the 13th of May is a truly nasty day for all of us, both journalists and readers. This is a day when a miracle was destroyed right before our eyes,” it said in an editorial.
Following the search of Prokhorov’s offices, the Kremlin denied involvement and Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said on Friday the presidential administration had nothing to do with Osetinskaya’s departure.
The group did not immediately say who would replace her. Several other RBC journalists said on Facebook they would soon quit, too.
Critics accuse Putin of steadily suppressing independent media and opposition parties since coming to power in 2000.
Many previously independent media outlets have been forced to tone down their criticism or change editorial policies altogether, others have shut down or moved abroad.
The crackdown intensified after Putin returned to the Kremlin for a third term in 2012 following huge protests against his rule.
“When they announced that Osetinskaya would be leaving for several months and the searches began, everything was already clear,” said Nikolai Petrov, who lectures at the Higher School of Economics in Moscow.
He and other experts said the authorities were seeking to neuter a critical media ahead of parliamentary elections in September that are to take place amid a prolonged economic crisis due, in part, to a plunge in oil prices and Western sanctions over Ukraine.
In November last year, Dow Jones and Pearson announced plans to sell their stakes in Vedomosti, opening the way for local businessman Damian Kudryavtsev and making the newspaper more vulnerable to Kremlin pressure.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
A prominent Christian leader has allegedly been stabbed at the altar during a Mass yesterday in southwest Sydney. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was saying Mass at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley just after 7pm when a man approached him at the altar and allegedly stabbed toward his head multiple times. A live stream of the Mass shows the congregation swarm forward toward Emmanuel before it was cut off. The church leader gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, amassing a large online following, Officers attached to Fairfield City police area command attended a location on Welcome Street, Wakeley following reports a number