Russian President Mr Vladimir Putin was facing questions today from angry journalists of Russia's embattled independent NTV television, where staff are furious at a wave of searches and interrogations conducted by prosecutors.
|
|
Russian President,
Mr Putin |
The journalists, including some of Russia's most influential reporters and presenters, met Mr Putin in the Kremlin this morning amid expectations they would challenge him on whether he really stood for a free post-Soviet press.
NTV is Russia's only independent national television channel and a frequent critic of Kremlin policy.
It is the most prestigious part of the Media-Most empire, which is seeking a Western investor to ward off an attempt to secure control of it by a branch of state-dominated gas giant Gazprom GAZP.MO.
Ahead of the meeting, NTV's chief editor made it plain the company's journalists would not be cowed.
"As chief editor, I have no intention of changing our policy on news and am quite prepared to say that to the president," Mr Grigory Krichevsky told the daily Vremya Novostei.
Prosecutor General Vladimir Ustinov told Interfax news agency that he believed Putin would tell the journalists that the law had to be upheld.
That meant proceeding with an investigation into fraud charges against Media-Most founder Mr Vladimir Gusinsky, who is currently under house arrest in Spain and fighting extradition to Russia.
-Reuters