Washington Post - 01.04.2004

The Washington Post 

Moscow Paper Opens New Era 


Revitalized Weekly Is Voice of Skepticism Under Putin 


By Peter Baker, Washington Post Foreign Service

MOSCOW -- Yevgeny Kiselyov was still trying to adjust the black leather chair in his office, and the computer befuddled him enough to summon his assistant to figure it out. At the recently relocated offices of Moscow News, framed front pages were propped against the wall, waiting to be hung.

A new era has opened for one of Russia's most venerable newspapers -- and for one of its most famous journalists.

More than 15 years ago, Moscow News emerged in the vanguard of the glasnost era, publishing articles that challenged the old Soviet establishment and led the way to a freer media. The newspaper is now under the ownership of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the imprisoned oil tycoon. Its new editor, Kiselyov, says he intends to rebuild it into a leading voice of skepticism in President Vladimir Putin's increasingly authoritarian Russia.

"This legacy is something we have to remember and at the same time forget," Kiselyov said in an interview at his new headquarters. "We can't repeat it. But our ambition is to return Moscow News not to former glory but to make it an influential weekly again."

Few understand the challenge better than Kiselyov. While he has never been a newspaper editor before, he was an anchor on three independent television networks in Russia, only to be forced out of each of them in succession after Putin took office. With all major television channels now effectively controlled by the state, Kiselyov has had to move to print to report information and express viewpoints unsanctioned by the Kremlin.

"We haven't had any trouble, but I wouldn't be surprised if we do in the future," he said. "I cross my fingers. I touch wood. I don't want to have trouble with the authorities. But I won't be afraid to publish a sharp, critical article if it's worth publishing it."

Once again he finds himself teamed up with a business tycoon out of favor with the authorities. Khodorkovsky, chief owner of Yukos oil company and Russia's richest man, bought Moscow News through his charitable foundation in September. His partner, Leonid Nevzlin, then got in touch with Kiselyov, who became a household name in the 1990s on NTV television before a state-controlled company pushed him out in 2001. Kiselyov had lost his latest anchor job in June when TVS television was shut down by the Russian Press Ministry.

Intrigued, Kiselyov accepted the Moscow News assignment just weeks before Khodorkovsky was arrested Oct. 25 by masked, gun-toting commandos and charged with fraud and tax evasion. Kiselyov says he will not be a front man for Khodorkovsky, although he knows that they share a similar outlook on the direction they see Putin taking the country.

"Moscow News is the paper with the longest democratic history" in Russia, said Maxim Dbar, spokesman for Khodorkovsky's Open Russia foundation. "In a way, the paper is a symbol of free press in Russia and the democratic movement. That's the main reason we decided to support it."

Most major newspapers in Russia are owned by and serve the political and business interests of one of the oligarchs, as Khodorkovsky and his fellow major business tycoons are commonly known. Metals mogul Vladimir Potanin owns Izvestia and Komsomolskaya Pravda, and self-exiled oil and auto magnate Boris Berezovsky owns Kommersant, Nezavisimaya Gazeta and Noviye Izvestia. Until acquiring Moscow News, Khodorkovsky had largely stayed out of the media business. Dbar denied that Khodorkovsky wanted to buy a public defender during his battle with Putin's prosecutors and said that Open Russia would leave the editorial content to the journalists.

"I'm sure that Moscow News in the future probably will be aimed at promoting democracy and civil society," he said. "But Open Russia will never influence them."

Newspapers have not been targeted for government-orchestrated takeovers the way television has, probably a reflection of their limited role in Russian society. But some Russian journalists say the Kremlin nonetheless manages to intimidate many newspapers into muting their criticism and investigative journalism.

Last year, Putin's government enacted a law that severely restricted the news media's coverage of parliamentary and presidential campaigns, virtually banning political analysis, election forecasts or articles that could be construed as favoring or opposing a candidate. The Russian Constitutional Court struck down the law as unconstitutional. Yet Press Minister Mikhail Lesin continues to play a significant behind-the-scenes role in pressuring newspaper editors, according to some journalists.

Khodorkovsky infused money into the financially ailing Moscow News and charged it with resisting such conformity. Although neither Dbar nor Kiselyov will say how much he paid for the newspaper, Khodorkovsky has quickly absorbed it into his empire, moving it from its longtime offices overlooking Pushkin Square in downtown Moscow to a Yukos building on the city's outskirts.

In the short time since Kiselyov took over Moscow News, it has earned some attention with its coverage. It scored a rare interview with former president Boris Yeltsin in which he said he had told Putin that a diversity of voices was good for Russian society. And the paper continues to keep Khodorkovsky's plight alive through its pages.

In an issue last week, it headlined a front-page piece, "Mikhail's Bleak Christmas" and bemoaned his continued detention even before trial. "Whatever one may think about Mr. Khodorkovsky and the origin of his wealth . . . human dignity should come first in a law-governed state, which Russia claims to be," the article said, adding that Putin's Moscow more resembled "the medieval Duchy of Muscovy than a modern democracy."

But with a circulation of less than 100,000, Moscow News remains a marginal entry in the media world, hard to find on the newsstands.

Raf Shakirov, editor in chief of Izvestia, praised some recent coverage by Moscow News, including its Yeltsin interview. He added, however, that the publication appeared to be increasingly political in its presentation. "It's a dangerous trend for any newspaper to become a project," he said. "I suppose Moscow News has a great potential and has its own place in the market. But at the same time, there is a trend of selecting the news in a certain way."

Moscow News began publishing Oct. 5, 1930, as a propaganda tool for Joseph Stalin, who wanted a state paper to distribute to foreigners. It was printed in nine languages, including English, French and German, but not Russian, featuring headlines such as "Soviet Peoples Mark Constitution Day" and "World Record Set by Soviet Flyers."

By the early 1980s, it began printing in Russian, and shortly after Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in the mid-1980s it was selected for an experiment in free press, given latitude to publish what it wanted without as much state interference. It made its mark by printing a letter from Soviet emigres, estimates of Stalin's labor camp victims, commentary calling for the end of the one-party system and other once-forbidden material. Soon it was selling 1 million copies each week, with readers lining up by 6 in the morning in Pushkin Square to grab a copy.

The publication has lost its perch in the years since, however, as other papers found their voices and eclipsed it. "The brand is rather good with its history and background, but the publication itself needs to be revitalized," said Anton Nosik, editor in chief of the Internet news site, www.lenta.ru.

With about 30 reporters in Moscow as well as stringers in London, New York and around the former Soviet Union, Moscow News produces a 32-page Russian edition and a 16-page English edition each week. Kiselyov said he hopes to redesign the paper and invigorate it with lively articles. Nosik is working on a possible Internet edition.

To Kiselyov, it will be one more opportunity to challenge what he sees as the "authoritarian rule behind a smokescreen of limited democracy" developing under Putin. "For me, it's an answer to the question I'm very often asked: Is Russia unable to become a democracy? Putin admirers in the West -- not only in Russia, but in the West -- often say to me he's the right man, Russia's not ready for democracy. Well, I really believe . . . Russia was never really given a chance."