During the time of its prosperity Moskovskie Novosti was a board of the Russian liberal opposition. But for the past several years the publisher has experienced rather tough times. Its circulation has gone down.

To save the situation Leonid Nevslin, the former co-partner of UKOS, who had bought the publisher, invited Eugeny Kiselev to take the position of editor in chief. The latter was a co-founder of the NTV TV-channel, the only independent broadcaster at that time.

But that only aggravated the situation. Kiselev’s appointment caused a number of scandals among the staff. As a result both Kiselev and Nevzlin quit. The newspaper was sold to the Ukrainian media tycoon Vadim Rabinovich. He also promptly realized that the publisher was not a prospective asset. In his turn he sold it to an Israeli subject Arkady Gaidamak. He made up his mind to change the image of the Moskovskie Novosti that is to leave the niche of the opposition press and to make friends with the Kremlin. That was behind the search of a new editor in chief. As one of the candidatures to this position Vladimir Pozner (a famous TV anchor) told the press, the decision regarding the editor was taken in the President’s administration.

Vitaly Tretjakov made it more obscure: “I have good friends in the Kremlin. I did not restrict their rights when I consulted them and some other people in the Kremlin”. Nevertheless he pointed out that the contract envisaged “professional independence”.  

Sources: Expert Magazine