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Goussinsky Arrest - Dec/Apr 2000-01

Vladimir Goussinsky Arrested in Spain

On this page:

Russia Presses New Charges (April 26)
Duma Passes Media Restrictions (April 26)
NTV Managers Ousted (April 4)
Spanish Court Releases Gusinsky (March 27)
"Spain on Trial" (March 18)
Rejailed Before Extradition Hearing (March 13)
U.S. Urges Turner Deal (Feb. 10)
Goussinsky Interview (Feb. 6)
Extradition Hearings in Spain (Jan. 31)
Prosecutors Interrogate TV Anchor (Jan. 26)
Putin: Free Press Not Dead in Russia (Jan. 13)
Media-Most Offices Searched (Jan. 10)
Appeal Overturned in Moscow (Jan. 5)
NCSJ Update (Dec. 27)
Baltimore Sun Editorial (Dec. 24)
RELEASE ON BAIL (CNN, Dec. 22)
ADL Press Release (Dec. 18)
Goussinsky's Condition (Dec. 18)
Putin to Hear Concerns in Canada Visit (Dec. 18)
Shackling Media (Dec. 16-22)
A Warning Against Opposition (Dec. 16-22)
Prosecutors Seeking Overseas Property (Dec. 15)
Spain Urged Against Extradition (Dec. 15)
Congressional Letter (Dec. 13)
Washington Post Editorial (Dec. 13)
Moscow Times story (Dec. 13)
New York Times story (Dec. 13)
American Jewish letter (Dec. 12)
Rep. Lantos Press Release (Dec. 12)

Ustinov Blasts Corruption, Denies Political Pressure (Jan. 12)
Background on the Goussinsky Case
Report on Illegal Search of Moscow Choral Synagogue

Ha'aretz Report on High-Placed Anti-Semitism (Dec. 13):
It would seem that Jewish organizations and Jewish public figures have become pawns in the power struggle within the Russian political system and that the authorities are meddling in the "wars of the Jews" in the Russian Federation. more

NTV Managers Ousted in Gazprom Coup

The Moscow Times

April 4, 2001

By Andrei Zolotov Jr.
Staff Writer

The long-running battle for control of NTV reached a dramatic climax Tuesday when its shareholder and creditor Gazprom-Media won the backing of a minority U.S. shareholder to oust NTV founder Vladimir Gusinsky and his associates from the board of directors and appoint new management.

U.S. investment banker Boris Jordan, a player in the government's controversial privatization program of the mid-1990s, was appointed general director. Vladimir Kulistikov, a former NTV journalist who went over to state-run media last fall, was brought back as chief editor.

NTV journalists refused to accept the decision, saying it was illegal and had the sole goal of establishing political control over the station. At a rally-like press conference outside the doors of the Ostankino television center, they presented a statement expressing their determination to stick by current general director Yevgeny Kiselyov.

News anchor Marianna Maximovskaya, who described the takeover as a "personal tragedy," showed a list of signatures and said about 300 out of the 410 people who work in producing news and current affairs programs had signed the statement supporting Kiselyov.

Grigory Krichevsky, who heads NTV's news service, said journalists were still considering their next move. "Today the issue of a strike is not on the agenda, but I will not assume the responsibility to say it will never happen," Krichevsky said.

NTV broadcast its evening news with rows of journalists standing behind the anchor, and Kiselyov hosted a special edition of his "Itogi" political show, during which prominent journalists and political figures spoke out in defense of the only national television station that has challenged the Kremlin line. The NTV logo in the corner of the screen was stamped by the word "protest" in red letters.

NTV journalists said they expected no help from President Vladimir Putin, whose state of the nation address was overshadowed by the events at NTV. "We have no doubt that Vladimir Putin, as before, knows full well what is going on and is thus responsible for the consequences," their statement said.

At least formally it was minority shareholder Capital Research Management, a U.S. mutual fund that bought 4.5 percent of NTV from Gusinsky in 1999, that made the difference at Tuesday's shareholders meeting.

Capital Research had been seen as Gusinsky's ally in the battle with Gazprom. It also is part of a Western consortium of potential investors, which includes CNN founder Ted Turner and financier George Soros. Since January, the consortium has been in talks with Media-MOST and Gazprom about buying shares in NTV and its sister companies.

Gazprom-Media general director Alfred Kokh said that Gazprom-Media, which controls 46 percent of NTV, and Capital Research Management came up with a quorum Tuesday of 50.44 percent of NTV shares and appointed a new board of directors, which met immediately to appoint Jordan and Kulistikov.

Media-MOST had boycotted the meeting.

Kokh said that Jordan, a U.S. investment banker of Russian descent whom he referred to as "Boris Alexeyevich," could provide the skilled management necessary to "save" the company from default.

"His nomination is the result of a compromise between companies controlled by Gazprom and Capital Research," said Kokh, who has taken Gusinsky's place as chairman of the NTV board.

Kokh said that the decision will "make life easier" for Kiselyov, who will be able to concentrate on journalism.

"He has Sunday's 'Itogi' coming up, he has to shoot documentaries, which we all watch with such pleasure. Let's wish him success on the path that made him famous among Russians," Kokh said with his trademark humor.

On Tuesday's special "Itogi," Kiselyov thanked Kokh for "taking an interest in my fate," but he did not answer the question of whether he will continue hosting "Itogi."

When presented to journalists Tuesday, Jordan introduced Western corporate manners into the ritual of Interfax news conferences. After pledging his allegiance to the "independence and precision" of quality television, to which he has been accustomed since his childhood in the United States, Jordan offered a slide presentation to show the depth of NTV's present financial crisis and his plan to improve its finances.

"There are two NTVs," Jordan said. "The journalists, about whom there are no questions, and the business, about which there are questions."

Jordan said he planned to ask Gazprom to restructure NTV's debts and speed up negotiations with the Turner-led consortium of investors. He pledged to defend NTV journalists from possible pressure coming either from the government or from shareholders, but cited one of NTV's founders, Igor Malashenko, as saying that a shareholder can interfere in editorial matters only if a certain program is consistently losing money.

Kulistikov, who left NTV last October to head the government-owned RIA news agency, said NTV had the country's best team of aggressive reporters but had "turned into something like a law firm, political party, public movement, etc., etc." Now the reporters, including Kiselyov, have a chance to "return to their immediate duties."

Jordan and Kulistikov said they understand the bitter feelings of NTV reporters but said they planned to come to work on Wednesday and hoped to convince journalists of their good intentions. They pledged not to use special troops to force themselves into the NTV offices.

"A television company is not a factory," Jordan said.

One reporter at the press conference likened Kokh, Jordan and Kulistikov to the GKChP leaders, who also held a press conference in 1991 during the attempted coup against Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev. But her question about Gazprom's failure to improve finances at its other media companies remained unanswered.

The NTV coup was surrounded by a number of contradictory court decisions suggesting that courts in Moscow and Saratov, which first banned Tuesday's shareholders meeting and then reversed their decisions, had come under pressure from Media-MOST's foes.

Kiselyov arrived Tuesday at Gazprom offices to present a ruling by a Saratov court banning the meeting only to see a paper signed by the same judge backing out from his decision. NTV reported Tuesday that the judge could not be contacted afterward. NTV said it turned to the court in Saratov because Gazprom had previously turned to municipal courts in Moscow for whom the battle between NTV and Gazprom was outside their immediate jurisdiction.

Although the outdoor press conference at Ostankino was announced on NTV television in an apparent bid to attract people other than reporters, only about 60 people gathered to cheer NTV outside Ostankino's metal fence while an international crowd of more than 100 reporters mobbed bitter NTV journalists inside the fence.

Perhaps the most emotional but thoughtful statement came from reporter Boris Koltsov, who said that NTV "stands on the verge of either a liquidation or a split."

"We are now witnessing how NTV is turning into something different: either an NTV with different people or a non-NTV," Koltsov said. He said sadly that the "Czech option" would not work in Russia because masses of people would not come out in support of NTV journalists. Earlier this year, employees of Czech state television went on strike to protest the appointment of a new head. The government backed out after thousands of people protested day after day in central Prague.

"It is very unpleasant to feel that you are a product of a settling of criminal accounts taking place, albeit at the very top level," Koltsov said.

n Some Internet sites reported Tuesday that Boris Jordan is also in the process of acquiring Independent Media, the parent company of The Moscow Times.

Independent Media CEO Derk Sauer flatly denied the reports. "Once and for all, Independent Media is not for sale," he said.

It was announced late last year that Dutch company VNU, which holds a 35 percent stake in Independent Media, is selling its magazine and Internet holdings around the world, not just in Russia, to concentrate on a different business. Sauer said that he has the right to buy out the stake and will exercise this right if the VNU buyer is not satisfactory for Independent Media. But Sauer said he will not need to turn to Jordan for investment despite their good relations.

"The problem in this town is that if you have a conversation with a person, the next day you read in the press that your company is for sale," he said.

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Spanish Court Releases Gusinsky

The Moscow Times

March 27, 2001

By Andrei Zolotov Jr.
Staff Writer

A Spanish court released Vladimir Gusinsky on bail Monday and — although no official statement was made — the decision was seen by some sources close to the case as an indication that he would not be extradited asthe Russian Prosecutor General's Office has requested.

Spain's National Court ordered that Gusinsky be moved from Madrid's Soto el Real prison back to his villa in Sotogrande, in southern Spain, but maintained the $5.5 million bail he had posted in December, The Associated Press reported from Madrid.

"Given the present state of our deliberations [on the extradition request], it is appropriate that the current situation of the arrested person should be changed and he should be released immediately," the court said in a brief statement.

Citing unidentified court sources, AP reported that Monday's ruling indicated the three-judge panel had already rejected the extradition request, but hadn't made its decision public yet.

Gusinsky is wanted on charges of large-scale fraud, which Media-MOST has repeatedly described as politically motivated because of its media's critical coverage of President Vladimir Putin's Kremlin.

The final decision on Gusinsky's extradition is to be made by the Spanish government on the basis of the court's decision, which can be apealed. It was not clear Monday when the final ruling is expected.

Media-MOST spokesman Dmitry Ostalsky hailed the court's decision as "wise and humane."

"Formally, it is not related to the extradition ruling," Ostalsky said in a telephone interview Monday. "But it evokes optimism about the Spanish justice system."

He also said that a cell in Soto el Real, where Gusinsky was placed March 13 ahead of the extradition hearings, was "not the best place" for holding negotiations about Media-MOST's future.

Media-MOST and its largest shareholder and creditor Gazprom-Media are negotiating a potential sale of an unspecified stake in several Media-MOST companies with a consortium of investors, which includes CNN founder Ted Turner and financier George Soros. At the same time, Gazprom-Media continues to pursue a court decision on its claim to a decisive 19 percent stake in Media-MOST's most influential company, NTV television.

On Monday, the Moscow Arbitration Court reversed an earlier decision by scheduling hearings on control over NTV for May 25. Last month, the court had postponed the hearings until Oct. 3 — a decision regarded as an interim victory for Media-MOST.

The dispute over the 19 percent, currently held by Gazprom-Media as collateral for a loan to Media-MOST that matures in July, derives from last November's contract between the two companies, which they have accused each other of violating. Media-MOST pins its hopes for a resolution on a March 28 hearing in a London court.

"So far, since the 19 percent has been frozen by the court, we continue to say that we control NTV [with 46 percent]," Gazprom-Media spokeswoman Aelita Yefimova said Monday. She also said the company still has not seen any written proposals from the Turner-led consortium and will go ahead as planned with NTV's general shareholders meeting, scheduled for April 3. Gazprom-Media said it will try to oust Gusinsky and his associates from the NTV board of directors at the meeting.

Ostalsky called the April 3 meeting "illegal" because it was convened without the consent of the board of directors, chaired by Gusinsky.

But Anatoly Blinov, Gazprom-Media's Moscow lawyer and a member of its board of directors, said that if Media-MOST boycotts the meeting, Gazprom-Media has the right to call another one 10 days later, where its 46 percent stake will be sufficient for a quorum.

"As of today, we consider NTV ours," Blinov said. "What remains is to seal this with a proper legal decision."

In Spain, Gusinsky will have to report to police daily in the southern province of Cadiz, where he lives in a luxurious villa, until the extradition decision is finalized.

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Spain on Trial

Sunday, March 18, 2001
The Washington Post
THE SPANISH government made an extraordinary error three months ago in accepting a request by Russia to arrest Vladimir Gusinsky, the exiled owner of the last independent television network in the country. The request, by Russia's Federal Security Service, successor agency to the KGB, was made through the Interpol network on the flimsiest of legal pretexts; the governments of France and Britain as well as the headquarters of Interpol all politely rejected it, returning it to Moscow with a request for further evidence. Yet, inexplicably, Spain complied, confining Mr. Gusinsky to a villa he owns, initiating an extradition case in the courts, and handing Russian President Vladimir Putin a major victory in his campaign to take over the NTV network and stifle critical reporting on his government.

Now Spain's national court must decide whether to free Mr. Gusinsky or compound the error of his arrest by ruling in favor of his extradition. It's hard to believe that a court in a democratic Western country could rule for Mr. Putin's police: Though Mr. Gusinsky, one of the "oligarchs" of Russia's crude post-Soviet capitalism, is hardly a saint, the charges brought against him in Moscow are glaringly spurious. The Russians charge that Mr. Gusinsky somehow committed fraud by misstating the value of his holdings when using them as collateral for a loan; even if that were true, the problem was resolved months ago when Mr. Gusinsky turned over additional assets to cover the loan.

But the alleged fraud is pretext; Mr. Gusinsky's real offense is that NTV has infuriated Mr. Putin by reporting critically on the war in Chechnya and other issues, prompting him to launch an all-out campaign that has included dozens of raids on the network, the arrest or persecution of most of its senior officers and journalists, and a continuing battle by a government-controlled gas company to take over NTV. The Bush administration and several European governments have rightly expressed concern about the attack on NTV; the State Department is on record saying that Mr. Gusinsky's prosecution is politically motivated. Only Spain seems unable to draw that obvious conclusion.

The by-now Byzantine legal and boardroom struggle over NTV rages on in Moscow, London and Gibraltar, but the heart of it is in Mr. Gusinsky's case in Spain. The exiled tycoon (whose company also publishes a magazine in cooperation with Newsweek, which is owned by The Washington Post Co.) has been trying to sell some or all of his NTV holdings to a consortium including CNN founder Ted Turner and billionaire investor George Soros, thus preserving NTV's independence. Since last Monday, however, he has been in a Spanish jail awaiting the court's decision. If the court rules against him, the already-slim chances for NTV's independent survival may disappear. And should the Spanish government, which holds the ultimate authority to decide on extradition, send Mr. Gusinsky back to Moscow, it would be choosing to join Mr. Putin's effort to use KGB tactics to silence his opposition -- a choice that would damage Spain as well as Russia.

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March 13, 2001

Gusinsky behind bars ahead of extradition hearing

The Russia Journal
MADRID, Spain (AP) - Russian media tycoon Vladimir Gusinsky was in jail again Monday after a Spanish court ordered his re-incarceration in advance of an extradition hearing, authorities said.
Gusinsky, wanted in Russia in a multimillion-dollar fraud case, was taken into custody at his villa in Cadiz in southern Spain, where he had been under house arrest, according to law enforcement officials.

He was scheduled to be moved to Soto del Real prison on the outskirts of the capital for the hearing Thursday at the National Court, officials said.

Gusinsky was apprehended Dec. 12 on an international warrant from Moscow. He has been under house arrest since Dec. 22, when he posted $ 5.5 million bail.
Russian prosecutors allege Gusinsky overstated the assets of his Media-Most empire to win $ 300 million in loan guarantees.
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February 10, 2001

U.S. Pushes Russia on Turner Deal

(Washington Times)

MOSCOW - The Bush administration has intervened with Russian leaders on behalf of Ted Turner's bid to buy a critical share of the country's only major independent television network and thereby save NTV from government control.

In private conversations with Moscow officials recently, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and Ambassador James Collins emphasized the importance of maintaining NTV's independence and suggested one acceptable way of doing that might be Turner's $300 million-plus proposal to take partial ownership, according to a senior U.S. official.

The quiet nudgings complement fresh public criticism from the State Department this week as Russian authorities continue to pressure the media empire of businessman Vladimir Gusinsky. Law enforcement agents today again raided offices of Gusinsky's holding company, Media-Most, as well as Image Bank, an in-house institution he uses to finance his operations.

Media-Most has been raided more than 30 times, and several top executives have fled the country or are in prison. Gusinsky remains in Spain fighting extradition to Russia.

The latest government tactic threatens to finally pull NTV, its regional network TNT and radio station Ekho Moskvy off the air. As long as computers at Image Bank remain frozen as a result of the raid, Media-Most executives said, they cannot pay rent, salaries or satellite fees.

Alexei Venediktov, editor in chief of Ekho Moskvy, said in an interview this week that he might have to let his staff go soon. "It's very likely within a month they're going to lose their jobs," he said.

The latest moves drew a pointed official response from Washington. "We see these steps . . . as part of the continued attempts to use political and economic measures to intimidate the independent media," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher told reporters Thursday.

The interest of the new administration may help ease the way for Turner's effort to bail out NTV. The CNN founder leads a consortium that would buy a 25 percent stake in NTV as well as other Media-Most properties, allowing Gusinsky to pay off a loan secured from the state-controlled Gazprom energy monopoly. Gazprom claims the unpaid debt means it now controls a majority of NTV shares.

Separately, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice met with Igor Malashenko, Media-Most's first deputy chairman, to show support for the group. "There may have been some in Moscow and the U.S. who think that this was a sort of bloodless state-to-state realpolitik type of administration that doesn't care about these issues," an administration official said. "Not true. We wanted to send the message for the Russians to understand that democracy is important."

Before he will ink the deal, Turner has asked President Vladimir Putin to guarantee journalistic freedom for NTV, something Putin has been unwilling to do publicly. But there are signs that private communications may be providing enough assurances for Turner to go ahead.

A source close to the negotiations said Turner and the consortium were moving forward with their purchase plan, including work on details such as voting rights, board memberships and legal fees.

Turner personally spoke with Powell to enlist his help, according to sources, and the secretary of state then raised the matter in a telephone conversation with Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov. Before returning to government last month, Powell served on the board of America Online, which is merging with Time Warner, where Turner serves as vice chairman.

A State Department official said, "We have always supported freedom of the press and seen it as a vital core of Russia's new democracy."

Although the promise of more than $300 million in new cash would allow Gusinsky to settle his $261.5 million Gazprom debt, the state-affiliated company has not welcomed the idea.

In an interview last week, Gazprom executive Alfred Kokh said he would not mind if Turner bought into the network. "We're ready for any compromise which wouldn't restrict our interest," he said. But this week Gazprom Chief Executive Rem Vyakhirev ruled that out. "We shall make no more deals with Mr. Gusinsky since it has proved impossible to have a deal with Mr. Gusinsky," he wrote in a full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal.

Making clear that retiring the debt was no longer enough, Vyakhirev added, "We have decided that Gazprom must deploy all means available to gain control" of NTV to restore "efficient management." He also insisted that the effort was not an assault on free speech, calling that "worn-out rhetoric."

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February 6, 2001

Gusinsky Warns of 'Totalitarianism'

(Moscow Times, Reuters)

Media-MOST founder Vladimir Gusinsky said in an interview published Monday that President Vladimir Putin misjudged the role of a free press and would pay a heavy political price if his NTV channel were shut down.

In a full-page interview with the Kommersant newspaper — Gusinsky's first interview to the Russian press in months — the tycoon warned that Russia under Putin is sliding toward "totalitarianism," and the fate of NTV will serve as an indicator of whether Putin goes that far in his neglect of democratic principles.

Gusinsky also confirmed that CNN founder Ted Tuner and financier George Soros were interested in buying stakes in NTV and its sister media companies. Such a move — if it were indeed endorsed by the Kremlin — would give Russia a "chance to stop and not make a step toward a totalitarian regime," he said.

Gusinsky, under house arrest in Spain pending a decision on a Russian request to extradite him on fraud charges, said Putin presented Russia as a democracy to the world while resorting to "a regime of security services or simply lawlessness for internal consumption."

"Putin believes that he is fooling everyone. … But he is not so much fooling everyone as the West is pretending to believe him," he said. "

Today, NTV amounts to only a drop in the bucket of overall deception, but a drop that could become critical for him when Western politicians stop deluding themselves."

He said closing down NTV, Media-MOST's crown jewel and the sole independent national television station, would amount to "political assassination. No one would then forgive him. Not his own people, nor public opinion. Not over NTV."

In his interview, which Kommersant said he had insisted be published in full, Gusinsky denounced prosecutors as corrupt "rascals and idiots" intent on intimidation.

He also renewed stinging criticism of the Kremlin's campaign against Chechen separatists and said Russia ultimately would lose the entire region in the North Caucasus.

"Believe me, Putin will be remembered not as a man who united Russian lands but as a destroyer," he said. "Not because he is a bad man. But because he simply does not understand."

Spanish judges Monday rejected a request by Gusinsky, who holds Russian and Israeli passports, to travel to Israel to vote in the country's general election due to fears he may try to escape justice.

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January 31, 2001

Gusinsky Appears Before Spanish Judge

MADRID — (RFE/RL) Russian media tycoon Vladimir Gusinsky, the head of Media-MOST which controls NTV, Russia's only major independent television station, appeared before a Spanish magistrate today as the first stage of his extradition hearings began in Madrid.

Russia is seeking the extradition of Gusinsky from Spain to face fraud charges. He and his staffers say the charges are politically motivated.
Gusinsky told Judge Baltasar Garzon he does not want to return to Russia to face embezzling charges because he does not trust the independence of the Russian judicial system.
Gusinsky spoke to journalists after the hearing: "It is obvious to everyone in Spain and elsewhere, not only that this proceeding is political, but that it is baseless. It is simply a falsification because they are trying to present economic dealings, even if they are complex, as a criminal case."
Garzon forwarded the case to the National Court, which is under no deadline to make a decision on whether Gusinsky must return to Russia.
Gusinsky has been under house arrest in Spain since police detained him in December. He is accused of embezzling more than $300 million from state-controlled Gazprom, Media-MOST's largest creditor and major shareholder.
Separately, EU ambassadors met journalists from Russia's private NTV television station today in Moscow. Swedish ambassador Sven Hirdman, who invited the NTV staffers to his country's embassy for lunch, said EU-member states pay "considerable attention" to the media and strongly support press freedom. Sweden currently holds the rotating EU presidency. Hirdman said EU envoys wanted to meet NTV staffers to exchange ideas on the current situation at the network.
NTV General-Director Yevgeny Kiselyov has accused the Russian government of trying to clamp down on media freedom.
NTV staffers have been questioned by prosecutors in recent days, prompting them to appeal to President Vladimir Putin not to interfere with the station's independence.

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January 26, 2001

Russian Prosecutors Quiz TV Anchor

MOSCOW, Jan. 26 — (CNN.com) Russian prosecutors have interrogated a popular TV presenter in a fraud probe into the financial dealings of the independent NTV broadcasting company.

Prosecutor Zigmund Lozhis was greeted by an army of NTV employees filming his every move as they supported anchor woman Tatyana Mitkova when he arrived to question her at NTV offices in northern Moscow.

Lozhis said he asked Mitkova about a $70,000 interest-free apartment loan she received from NTV's parent company Media-Most in 1994 -- and said he planned to question many other company employees.

Prosecutors investigating Media-Most and its founder, tycoon Vladimir Gusinsky who is currently fighting extradition from Spain to Russia, have questioned senior financial officials but had not involved journalists in the probe before now.

Court officials have also carried out another search of Media-Most's Moscow headquarters to collect financial documents relating to the case, Media-Most lawyer Pavel Astakhov said.

Mitkova is a favourite among Russian viewers, with her direct, upbeat style.

The announcement of the summons on Thursday angered many of her fans, even those who have had little sympathy for Gusinsky's financial woes.

The tug-of-war for control of Media-Most has developed into a debate on President Vladimir Putin's attitude towards a free press.

CNN correspondent Steve Harrigan said the battle for control over NTV is often seen in the West in black and white terms, as a clear threat to freedom of the press in Russia. To some extent this is justified, since if the government does take over the channel, there will be no national independent television news in the country.

Harrigan said it would be a mistake to see NTV simply as a last bastion of free, independent media.

He said Gusinsky openly admits "huge error" in throwing the support of his news organisation behind Boris Yeltsin in the 1996 presidential elections.

Putin has said on several occasions that there is still no media in Russia that is entirely free from influence, that instead different financial barons struggle with each other and against the Russian Government through their media holdings, Harrigan added.

President Putin's supporters say he is trying to bring order into a corrupt and chaotic system. His opponents say he is trying to stifle one of the few real gains of the Yeltsin era: freedom of the press.

Media-Most's news organisations, particularly NTV, have frequently been critical of Kremlin policy.

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January 13, 2001

Putin Says Free Press Not Dead in Russia

MOSCOW, Jan. 13 — (Reuters) President Vladimir Putin,accused by some critics of trying to stifle the media, insisted on Saturday that reports of the death of free speech in Russia were exaggerated.

Putin, marking Russia's Day of the Press, said the state welcomed criticism. But at the same time, he sternly reminded journalists of their duties and responsibilities.

"Paraphrasing Mark Twain, I can say that information about the death of free speech in our country is greatly exaggerated," Putin said in remarks televised on state owned RTR television at a Kremlin meeting with top editors and reporters.

Liberal critics have said Putin and his Kremlin aides are intent on tightly controlling the media, to prevent objective criticism and reporting of the authorities.

Foremost among the critics has been Media-Most, which owns Russia's only independent national TV station, NTV. It cites official pressure on its boss, Vladimir Gusinsky, as evidence the Kremlin wants control of non-state media.

"Many of you in different ways interpret what is happening in the country, and our foreign policy initiatives and steps. You do this sometimes, even quite often, in a very sharp and critical way," Putin said at the Kremlin gathering.

"The state swallows this and, even more, I must tell you that this is useful for government at any level as it makes us react to the mistakes the state sometimes makes," he said.

In his address to journalists, Putin said the freedom of speech which followed the collapse of Soviet communism in 1991 "was one of the main gains of the last decade."

But, he added: "Its unshakeability depends not only on correct laws but on the demands the journalist places on himself, on his responsibility to his country and to society."

"With each article and word, you have again and again to show your right to the trust of people. Indeed, authority and trust are not given at once and forever," he added.

Noting some journalists died in the course of their work, he said being a reporter was one of the most dangerous professions.

MEDIA ROWS

The New York-based Committee for the Protection of Journalists said in a recent report that three Russian reporters died last year, two in Chechnya and one after being beaten senseless in his doorway in Moscow.

Putin has many times said he backs a free press but liberals have accused him of trying to tighten the reins on the media.

Gusinsky is currently fighting extradition to Russia from Spain on fraud allegations he says are trumped up and part of efforts to force him to cede control of his media group.

Gusinsky has already had to sell a large stake in NTV to the media arm of state-controlled gas company Gazprom due to debts. He says the Kremlin is manipulating the debt problem to get NTV and other Media-Most outlets into its own hands.

Rival businessman Boris Berezovsky, once a leading Kremlin courtier but now in self-imposed exile, has also accused Putin of trying to stifle free speech. Berezovsky also said last week he was to sell his 49 percent stake in the ORT elevision station, Russia's most watched. He said he believed ORT was to come under effective state control.

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January 10, 2001

Russia's Media - Most Offices Searched

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 4:39 p.m. ET

MOSCOW (AP) -- Investigators searched the offices of Russia's embattled media company Media-Most on Wednesday looking for evidence against company head Vladimir Gusinsky.

Media-Most said the search was an attempt by natural gas company Gazprom, which holds part of Media-Most's stock, to disrupt talks with potential investors about the sale of a stake in the company's flagship television channel, NTV.

It also accused Gazprom, which is partly government owned, of trying to block Media-Most from managing its remaining stock independently.

The company is involved in a complex political and business dispute involving Gazprom. Among Media-Most's holdings are Russia's largest nongovernment TV station.

Media-Most head Vladimir Gusinsky was arrested in Spain in December under a Russian-issued warrant that he understated his company's assets to get loan guarantees from Gazprom. Spanish authorities are considering whether to extradite him.

The company says the Kremlin is persecuting it in order to muzzle independent news media; but the Kremlin denies the accusations, saying it wants to end widespread financial wrongdoing.

The search came on a day Media-Most's deputy director Andrei Tsimailo was to fly abroad for a meeting with a potential foreign investor, NTV reported. It did not disclose the investor's name.

But the Interfax news agency quoted an unidentified representative of Gazprom's media subsidiary as complaining Wednesday that Media-Most was holding talks with U.S. media magnate Ted Turner about a possible sale of stock. The official was quoted as saying the talks should have been authorized by Gazprom.

A spokeswoman for Turner said the talks were ``a personal initiative'' that didn't involve Time Warner Inc., the media conglomerate of which he is a vice chairman.

``Today's statements by some anonymous sources in Gazprom-Media clearly show that this company is obviously trying to monopolize the process of selecting a respectable Western investor for NTV,'' Media-Most said in a statement.

Media-Most ``cannot fail to see a connection between the actions of the prosecutor's office and of Gazprom,'' it said.

It was the third search at the offices of Media-Most since the dispute began. A spokesman for the Prosecutor General's Office refused to specify what investigators were looking for Wednesday, but said that the search was linked to the case against Gusinsky.

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Russia Today

Russian Court Rules to Reinstate Media Boss Case

MOSCOW, Jan 5, 2001 -- (Reuters) A Moscow court ruled on Friday to revive a fraud case against self-exiled media magnate Vladimir Gusinsky, in the center of a row over press freedoms in Russia.

The court overturned a lower court's ruling from last week, which dismissed the case as groundless. Gusinsky is in Spain on bail, awaiting hearings on whether to extradite him to Russia to face the charges under an international arrest warrant.

"In this instance, law prevailed," Alexander Gorbunov, representing the prosecutor's office in the Moscow City court told reporters after the ruling was handed down behind closed doors.

The decision set the stage for Gusinsky's extradition hearings to proceed in Spain. The extradition case would have been undermined if the court upheld last week's ruling throwing out the charges.

A lawyer for Gusinsky, Yuri Bagrayev, said his team would now look for a way to appeal Friday's ruling.

The media boss says the case against him is part of a Kremlin-inspired campaign to muzzle its critics. He fled Russia to avoid imprisonment and was briefly detained by Spanish authorities before being freed on $5.5 million bail.

Gusinsky is the founder of Russia's largest media network Media-Most, including NTV, the only television station with nationwide reach that is outside the Kremlin's control. His media have been sharply critical of President Vladimir Putin.

The United States has said it is closely watching developments in Gusinsky's case for indications about the future of press freedom in Russia.

Gusinsky already spent three days in a Moscow jail last year before all charges against him were suddenly dropped following a secret deal to sell his media empire to state-dominated natural gas monopoly Gazprom, which had guaranteed Gusinsky's debts.

After Gusinsky later backed out of the deal, prosecutors launched a new criminal case. They said the charges had no political motivation.

Media-Most and Gazprom have since reached agreement on the sale of some of the media company's shares to cover the debts.

Under the deal Gusinsky ceased to be the majority shareholder of his most prized asset, NTV, but managed to avoid handing over editorial control to the gas giant.

Both companies now hold major stakes in NTV and say they are looking to sell shares to an international investor to ensure the station's independent status.

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MEMORANDUM

TO:           Interested Parties

FROM: Harold Paul Luks, Chairman
Robert J. Meth, President
Mark B. Levin, Executive Director

DATE: December 27, 2000

SUBJECT: Goussinsky Update

We wanted to update you on the legal actions against Vladimir Goussinsky, Chairman of Media-Most and President of the Russian Jewish Congress, and on recent efforts to free him from detention in Spain. He was released Friday evening, December 22, on $5.5 million bail, and is currently confined to his home in Spain.

THE CASE

As most of you now know, Mr. Goussinsky was detained by Spanish police early last Tuesday, December 12, and was held in custody through December 22 near Madrid. The police were acting on an international warrant, issued by the Russian Prosecutor-General, charging him with fraud and embezzlement. This reprises the charges on which he was arrested in Moscow in June 2000 and held for three nights before being released. Those earlier charges were dropped and Mr. Goussinsky was permitted to leave Russia, which he did. Last month, after Mr. Goussinsky had declined to return for further questioning on new charges, the Russian prosecutor issued the international warrant.

At this point, Mr. Goussinsky is awaiting a hearing on extradition before the same Spanish judge who issued the extradition request against former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. Russian officials have indicated their intention to seek the confiscation of Mr. Goussinsky’s homes and other assets both inside and outside of Russia. Late last week, the Russian government-backed Gazprom conglomerate withdrew its lawsuit against Mr. Goussinksy, and yesterday (December 26), a Moscow municipal court dismissed the government's case against him. Although the Russian prosecutor will appeal that decision, these two developments significantly undermine the government's claim that there is no political motivation behind the charges.

THE RESPONSE

On the same day as Vladimir Goussinsky was detained in Spain, a letter to Spain’s justice minister was sent by NCSJ, the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, B’nai B’rith International and the American Jewish Congress, with the American Jewish Committee sending a separate letter as well on December 15. On Capitol Hill, Rep. Tom Lantos (D-CA), slated to be the new ranking Democrat on the International Relations Committee, issued a press release calling for hearings on the matter. Since then, NCSJ and our member agencies have been in contact with Spanish officials in Washington and New York, and community leaders in Moscow have had diplomatic contacts as well.

The State Department has publicly and privately communicated its strong reservations about the validity of the Russian charges. Concerns about political motives were raised during Russian President Vladimir Putin’s trip to Canada earlier this week, and a joint letter to the Spanish justice minister was sent by Senator Gordon Smith (R-OR), who chairs the Foreign Relations Subcommittee on European Affairs, and Rep. Lantos. Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) has written separately to the Spanish Ambassador to the United States, Representatives Chris Smith (R-NJ) and Steny Hoyer (D-MD) have written to the Justice Minister on behalf of the U.S. Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (Helsinki Commission), and Representatives Eliot Engel (D-NY) and Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) also wrote to the Minister. Last week, prior to Mr. Goussinsky's bail, Rep. Lantos met in Spain with government officials including the Prime Minister, Justice Minister and Foreign Minister, and visited with Mr. Goussinsky in his jail cell.

Despite the Congressional recess, additional letters and initiatives are being arranged on the Hill, and we are in regular consultation with a variety of diplomatic and governmental contacts in Washington and overseas. The public response has also been far-reaching, with criticisms of the Goussinsky prosecution by Mikhail Gorbachev as well as many Russian journalists and politicians, not to mention the Western media. An example from the Washington Post is attached.

As always, we will update you on the situation and related developments, both directly and through www.ncsj.org . Happy Chanukah.

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Baltimore Sun

December 24, 2000
Editorial

Putin moves to muzzle Russia's free press

Crackdown: Kremlin wants to silence media outlets that criticize Chechnya war and other errors.

FIFTEEN MONTHS after Russians launched an all-out offensive to retake Chechnya, war in that mountain republic increasingly resembles the unhappy U.S. quagmire in Vietnam. Rebels keep assassinating key Russian officials and their local allies; villages held by Moscow's troops in the daytime fall back into the separatists' control at night. And a steady number of Russian conscripts die in ambushes and skirmishes.

When he was prime minister, Vladimir Putin committed Russian troops to Chechnya, pledging a quick and decisive victory. Now that he is president, he does not want to be reminded of that. Yet every day he has to tolerate criticism from Vladimir Gusinsky's gutsy media groups, which include NTV television network, a popular radio station, an aggressive newspaper in Moscow and Itogi magazine, published in cooperation with Newsweek.

President Putin has repeatedly sent signals that he wants muckraking media outlets to cease and desist. In June, Mr. Gusinsky, head of the Russian Jewish Congress, was arrested on trumped-up charges. Since then, machine-gun-toting tax police have raided the media group several times, and efforts have been made to force it into bankruptcy. Recently, Moscow ordered Mr. Gusinsky arrested in Spain, where he is fighting extradition.

An interesting pattern emerges in all of this: Mr. Gusinsky's arrests occurred while President Putin was on a state visit abroad, allowing him to claim he had no direct knowledge about the events.

This, of course, is nonsense. The actions against Mr. Gusinsky were approved at the highest level in the Kremlin. That's the way Russia works.

Now the latest chapter in this chilling attack on freedom of expression is about to begin. Tax authorities want to liquidate Mr. Gusinsky's media assets. Never mind that his companies, unlike most Russian conglomerates, have actually paid taxes. Instead, officials argue that Mr. Gusinsky's companies must be insolvent because they have so much long-term debt.

International auditors, including Price Waterhouse, have judged that the highly leveraged Gusinsky media companies meet their standards. Indeed, some Moscow tax experts argue that almost any Russian company could be liquidated under the Putin administration's criteria.

Clearly, President Putin is trying to stamp out dissent. Former President Mikhail S. Gorbachev and Eduard Shevardnadze, a former foreign minister, have said as much. The West should heed their warnings about the Putin administration's dangerously anti-democratic tendencies.

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Press Release
ADL Urges Spain to Block Extradition of Russian Jewish Leader and Media Mogul, Vladimir Goussinsky
New York, N.Y., December 18, 2000 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has urged the Spanish government to block the extradition of Vladimir Goussinsky to Russia. Mr. Goussinsky, a businessman and leader in the Russian Jewish community, was arrested on December 12th at his home in Spain.

"Russia's treatment of Mr. Goussinsky's case has raised serious questions about President Vladimir Putin's commitment to the rule of law and his respect for democratic processes," said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director. "We are concerned that if Mr. Goussinsky is extradited to Russia, he might not be treated in a manner consistent with internationally recognized legal norms."

Mr. Goussinsky left Russia last summer after being released from prison following an investigation of his media empire. He was indicted in Moscow on November 13th when he failed to appear for questioning in the case.

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.

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Agence France Presse (Russia Today)
December 18, 2000
Russian Tycoon Suffering Anxiety in Custody in Spain

MADRID - Russian media tycoon Vladimir Gusinsky is in a state of anxiety while remanded in custody here awaiting possible extradition to Russia on charges of embezzling 250 million dollars, his lawyer said Sunday.

Gusinsky, held at prison 40 kilometers (25 miles) from Madrid, could face up to 10 years if convicted.

Gusinsky's supporters and lawyers have claimed fraud charges against him are inspired by political opponents who want to take control of his influential media empire, Media-MOST.

"He is very concerned and very nervous because he is not used to being in prison," lawyer Domingo Plazas said.

The businessman has not returned to Russia since July for fear of being arrested, having spent three nights in custody in Moscow earlier in the year after his arrest for alleged fraud in a privatization case dating back to 1997.

Plazas said his client was in the prison's infirmary wing. "It's the best place for him. I hope he won't be transferred to another wing." Plazas said: "Gusinsky beleives his detention is totally unfounded."

Plazas lodged an appeal against detention on Saturday with the state attorney to Spain's highest court.

The attorney had 48 hours to raise objections to the appeal. Judge Baltasar Garzon, who is examining the extradition application, will then have to decide whether or not the prisoner should be released from detention pending an extradition hearing.

Journalists from nine former Soviet republics have joined forces with their Russian counterparts in condemning the court cases against the independent Media-MOST empire as a violation of media freedom rights.

Moscow's city tax inspectorate filed a suit Friday alleging that Media-MOST and its companies are unprofitable and should be declared bankrupt.

The media group, now facing closure of its influential TV channel, newspapers and radio station, has been a constant critic of President Vladimir Putin's administration.

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Jewish groups called for fresh pressure to be exerted on Putin to halt legal proceedings against Vladimir Gusinsky, who heads Russia's top independent media group and is a leader of Russia's Jewish community.

Gusinsky was arrested in Spain last week pending an extradition hearing for him to Russia, where he faces fraud charges which liberals see as an attack on post-Soviet press freedoms.

Reuters (Russia Today)
December 18, 2000

Russian, Canadian Leaders Get Down to Formal Talks
OTTAWA - Russian President Vladimir Putin and Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien get down to formal business on Monday with talks focusing on disarmament, development of Arctic expanses and improving paltry trade levels.

Putin, on a three-day visit to Canada, and his host were due to sign a "statement on strategic stability issues" setting down basic security principles as well as accords on developing the two countries' vast polar areas and expanding their commercial air links.

The two men launched their talks informally on Sunday evening at a private dinner organized soon after Putin arrived at the close of a five-day stay in Cuba aimed at restoring close ties with its Soviet-era Caribbean ally.

Talks were expected to dwell on the new U.S. administration of President-elect George W. Bush, particularly on common ground in opposing Bush's proposals to proceed with a national missile defense (NMD) plan.

Both Canada and Russia oppose U.S. proposals to alter the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty that Washington says is required in order to push ahead with the system and guard against missile launches by "rogue states" such as North Korea and Iran.

Putin told reporters in Havana that Canada and Russia had points in common -- "economic like exploration in the north, and also political like maintaining the balance of forces and preserving the system of international security which has been created until now."

"Our positions are very close."

Even in the Cold War era, Canada and the Soviet Union enjoyed reasonably good links, thanks in part to late Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau's efforts to cultivate ties with both Moscow and Havana.

POLICY DIFFERENCES WITH U.S.

Canada, a member of NATO and the G7 group of industrialized countries, has also had periodic, if subtle, policy differences with the United States. But Putin made clear in the run-up to the visit that any agreements should not be directed against Washington.

Before Putin's arrival, commentators suggested Chretien should protest to Putin about the alleged extremes of the Kremlin's military campaign against Chechen separatists.

Canadian officials have said they will raise objections but Western denunciations of Russian actions have become less common and more muted as resistance to the military in Chechnya has become confined to pinprick attacks by rebels.

Jewish groups called for fresh pressure to be exerted on Putin to halt legal proceedings against Vladimir Gusinsky, who heads Russia's top independent media group and is a leader of Russia's Jewish community.

Gusinsky was arrested in Spain last week pending an extradition hearing for him to Russia, where he faces fraud charges which liberals see as an attack on post-Soviet press freedoms.

On trade, deputy Russian Prime Minister Viktor Khristenko told reporters after Putin's arrival that both sides were determined to boost this year's projected level of C$1 billion ($600 million), less than the daily level of trade between Moscow and Washington.

Khristenko said trade was diversifying into high-technology goods, away from traditional patterns of Canadian sales of grain and Russian exports of metals.

"The current level does not reflect the possibilities or the similarities between our countries," he said. "Expansion is entirely possible."

He said Russia intended to complain about anti-dumping legal cases initiated by Canada against Russian companies.

Canada was expected during the talks to offer public support for Russia's rapid entry into the World Trade Organization.

Putin flies on to Toronto on Tuesday to persuade top industrialists that Russia is now a safe and reliable place for their investments amid a recovery from the 1998 financial collapse.

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The Russia Journal
December 16-22, 2000

EDITORIAL: Shackling Media

With more than $130 billion washed out offshore, with criminal tycoons roaming the Kremlin corridors and communist directors robbing but ruling vast enterprises, the wrath of the Russian state has finally struck. If Russia needs to look for those guilty of crimes against the state, or those who have robbed it, it need only arrest the backseat rider in every black car with a blue light running through the central lanes of Moscow's avenues. Finding these characters guilty should not be a problem – they live on wealth a million times above their reported worth.

The sword could have fallen on a thousand banks that deprived millions of their life savings. It could have fallen on the dirty half-dozen who divided up the country among themselves. But it hasn't. Despite the pleasure one gets in seeing a Boris Berezovsky on the run and a Valdimir Gusinsky being brought to law, one cannot help thinking: Why did it have to be a media tycoon?

Yes, there can be no doubt that Gusinsky did, like thousands of others, engage in asset-stripping and illegal machinations. But just as true is the fact that he created, single handedly, the most powerful, entertaining and independent mass media company in Russia.

Gusinsky is hardly the symbol of all Russia's wrongs and ills. He, unlike his peers who single-mindedly devoted themselves to looting and robbing, actually built something. That may not earn him a judicial pardon for his crimes, but perhaps the prosecutors could ease up on their zeal, and the president could call off the wolves. Russia should target its real enemies, of which it has plenty.

The Gusinsky saga is entering a dangerous phase, and a free media, free market and the past itself are at stake. Putin has chosen symbols of pre- and post-Revolutionary Russia in a quest to honor the past. But the most significant achievements of the recent past must also be respected. If there is one thing to come out of the past Russian decade, it is freedom of speech. At the forefront of that stood Gusinsky and a media company built from scratch.

Gusinsky does not deserve to be dragged down like a criminal. Although, if all those guilty of similar crimes in Russia were to be lined up and shackled, perhaps one would not object to seeing him among them. But to single him out is a travesty of justice and an attack on freedom of expression.

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For the people in the state apparatus who want to put an end to opposition, the most convenient tactic would seem to be to give everyone a fright. If this is the aim, then the stupid actions against Gusinsky are not so stupid after all.

Masked men as mirror of state
By Otto LATSIS / Special to The Russia Journal

December 16-22, 2000

Vladimir Gusinsky has been arrested again. In Spain this time, but on the demand of the Russian Prosecutor General’s office, as the first time. The main thing for Gusinsky now is whether the Spanish court will decide to hand him over to the Russian authorities. But regardless of what the Spanish court decides, the Russian public should take a look at the actions of its own country.

The first impression these actions give is one of clumsiness and lack of professionalism. This was obvious from the first attack on Gusinsky, when armed and masked men burst into the offices of his Media-MOST company, supposedly to seize some documents. For some reason, this armed group was dressed in Tax Police uniforms, though official statements on the case came from a representative of the FSB.

Gusinsky was then arrested and placed in a cell with criminals in Butyrki prison, though he was released three days later. Criminal investigations were launched into Russkoye Video, a company for which Media-MOST is liable. The case was subsequently closed and then reopened. Gusinsky was accused first of embezzling state funds, then of swindling. At the same time, the saga of Media-MOST’s debts to state and semi-state organizations Gazprom and Vnesheconombank continued, with Media Minister Mikhail Lesin also getting involved.

The state’s actions, in a word, have been loud, confused, threatening, but ultimately senseless and biased by the state’s own interests. The actions taken are senseless primarily because Media-MOST really does owe hundreds of millions of dollars, which it is in no condition to pay. It would be easy to take Media-MOST’s shares in return for its debts and, in doing so, put an end to this independent opposition company. This could be done perfectly legally and without scandals. No amount of protests and appeals to Russian and public opinion would help Gusinsky – the market is the market and debts have to be repaid.

But instead of clear, quiet and decisive action, the state has followed a confused and not very reliable tactic. The latest action is also unreliable, even if the Spanish court does agree to Gusinsky’s extradition. Proving the charge of swindling in court would be difficult due to the imperfect state of Russian law on the question.

This all raises the question of why the Russian authorities stubbornly persist not choosing the most rational or advantageous strategies in pursuit of a perfectly clear aim – to rein in the opposition media. Of course, the stupidity of officials zealous in their desire to please their bosses, but not in their ability to think, is always a major if not decisive factor. But to come up with all that has gone on over recent months with Media-MOST, a company vulnerable to legal action as it is, requires a truly great amount of stupidity.

Perhaps, the bureaucrats behind it all simply didn’t want to act cleanly and effectively. Perhaps, precisely what they wanted was loud scandal and roughshod action.

This is one case where the authorities didn’t have to worry about angering the voters. The "people" (it has become fashionable in the Kremlin of late to talk about what the people think) clap their hands at any steps taken against the so-called oligarchs.

With all the talk of freeing the oligarchs’ grip on the media and the propagandistic speeches about a state information security doctrine, it’s easy to divert attention from the fact that no one is touching the richest oligarchs that control major newspapers – the top people at Gazprom and Interros (former Oneximbank). These oligarchs’ media enterprises don’t worry the authorities because they largely don’t express independent views.

The state doesn’t even try to hide its desire to establish its own monopoly over the media. It’s particularly clear in the way first RTR and then ORT came under direct state control.

But there’ll be no restoring the kind of state monopoly of information that existed in Soviet times. It wouldn’t be advantageous in any case – most media make a loss. Getting the prosecutors to chase after every TV or radio station owner, every newspaper owner, the way Gusinsky is now being chased, would be too complicated and time consuming.

For the people in the state apparatus who want to put an end to opposition, the most convenient tactic would seem to be to give everyone a fright. If this is the aim, then the stupid actions against Gusinsky are not so stupid after all. All the scandal and clumsy brutality are a clear lesson to rebellious souls that the state won’t be stopped by the restrictions of the law or by public protests and can do exactly as it pleases.

Incidentally, Gusinsky was arrested in Spain on Dec. 12, Russian Constitution Day. At a reception in the Kremlin in honor of the occasion, President Vladimir Putin said that to live according to the constitution is not just a duty of free people, but also their privilege. Well said. If free people are given enough of a fright, it will be possible to keep saying all these fine words about the constitution and other laws without worrying about any real opposition.

During the Soviet years, one of Vladimir Lenin’s most well-known essays was his article called "Lev Tolstoy as the mirror of the Russian Revolution." The article’s main point was that though Tolstoy was not himself a revolutionary, his works provided an excellent reflection of the main features of the Russian Revolution, even if not consciously intended that way. The men in masks who turn up here and there also don’t seek to reflect anything, but end up being the best mirror for today’s Russian state, at least in the form the bureaucrats want to shape it into.

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The Moscow Times (Reuters)
December 15, 2000

Russian Prosecutors Eye Gusinsky's Property

Russian prosecutors intend to seize the foreign property of jailed media magnate Vladimir Gusinsky as part of a case to extradite him from Spain on fraud charges, a spokesman for the Prosecutor General said Friday.

Gusinsky was arrested in his luxury villa in southern Spain in the early hours of Tuesday in response to a Russian request to extradite him on fraud charges. His villa in Sotogrande in Spain is one of several foreign residences.

The spokesman said prosecutors were preparing a request to take possession of Gusinsky's foreign holdings.

Pavel Barkovsky, the senior investigator for Russia's general prosecutor, was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying the European convention on extradition allowed not only for extradition but also the seizure of the suspect's property.

Barkovsky also said all documents relating to Russia's extradition request had been prepared and sent to the Spanish authorities. "All necessary documents were ready by Nov. 13 and have already been sent (to Spain)."

Gusinsky's Media-Most company had issued a statement on Thursday accusing Russian prosecutors of dragging their feet in sending Madrid details of the case in order to prolong the businessman's detention.

It also said the Spanish High Court had turned down a request by Gusinsky's lawyers to release their client, and a court source said any such request was likely to be rejected until the relevant papers arrived from Moscow.

Russia has 40 days to send Spain documentation to back its extradition request. The documents then need to be translated and checked by the High Court before the request goes to ministers for approval.

Gusinsky created independent media outlets in Russia and championed media and democratic freedom during the chaos of the country's post-Communist years.

His media have been fiercely critical of the Kremlin and a court source has reported that he told the Madrid court he was a victim of political persecution.

But the chief prosecutor of Spain's High Court was quoted in a newspaper on Thursday as saying he saw nothing that would prevent the extradition of Gusinsky to his home country.
The Spanish High Court is not due to give its opinion on the case until early next year. A ruling in favour of extradition would have to be backed by an official High Court report and approved by the Spanish government.
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Forward
December 15, 2000

Don't Extradite Russian Mogul, Spain Is Urged

Arrest by Interpol Called 'Persecution'
By S.A. GREENE
FORWARD CORRESPONDENT
MOSCOW — Lawyers for Russian Jewish philanthropist and press baron Vladimir Gusinsky say that his arrest in Spain this week is political persecution and that he should not be extradited to Russia on fraud charges.

Mr. Gusinsky, who fled Russia in July, was arrested on Monday in the Spanish coastal resort of Soto-grande by police acting on a warrant issued by Interpol at Moscow's behest. Initially held in Cadiz, he was sent on Tuesday to Madrid, where he will have an extradition hearing in front of Spain's National Tribunal, according to a spokesman for the Spanish Embassy in Moscow, Gregorio Laso Mostoles.

Rep. Tom Lantos of California called for a congressional hearing to investigate the arrest, calling it "a violation of fundamental human rights and part of [Russian President] Putin's pernicious policy to stifle the free media."

Russian prosecutors launched their investigation into Mr. Gusinsky's financial dealings in May, accusing the media mogul of fraud. His supporters, including most Jewish leaders and major opposition politicians, think that the police scrutiny is aimed more at silencing one of the Kremlin's loudest critics.

"If you take a look at what's happened in the last six months, it's apparent this is political," said Pinchas Goldschmidt, Moscow's chief rabbi and a senior organizer in the Russian Jewish Congress, which Mr. Gusinsky founded and runs.

The police action caught Mr. Gusinsky's supporters in Moscow — including lawyers and Jewish leaders — by surprise. They said they did not know Mr. Gusinsky's whereabouts or how the process would move forward.

"He is not under arrest," one of Mr. Gusinsky's attorneys, Pavel Astakhov, told the Forward. "He has only been detained. There's a big difference. The important thing now is the decision of the court."

"We're still trying to find out exactly what's happening," Rabbi Goldschmidt said.

The executive vice president of the Russian Jewish Congress, Alexander Osovtsov, said more the Russian and World Jewish Congresses still had not decided on a strategy to defend Mr. Gusinsky. Others, however, cautioned that speaking out too loudly could backfire.

"We're obviously very distressed," said a spokesman for the Russian Federation of Jewish Communities, Boruch Gorin. "Mr. Gusinsky is an important sponsor of Jewish life in Russia. But we don't know all the details yet. Mr. Gusinsky could be released tomorrow, but if we make too much noise today, there may be other problems."

Before Mr. Gusinsky's exile, police raided his holding company, Media-Most, seized his house and imprisoned him for three days. Police also raided Moscow's Central Choral Synagogue in search of evidence against him.

Prosecutors dropped the charges in July in return for Mr. Gusinsky's exile and a deal to hand over control of Media-Most. But when the deal fell apart in November, new warrants were drawn up, and Moscow asked Interpol to add Mr. Gusinsky to its wanted list. Those objecting included the U.S. State Department and the World Jewish Congress, of which Mr. Gusinsky is vice president.

On December 11, just a day before the arrest, Interpol issued a statement saying it needed further proof of the merits behind the Russian investigation before it would act.

"Interpol must remain ever-vigilant of its obligation not to permit its resources and global network to be used for purposes whose underlying motivation is political, religious or racial," Interpol Secretary General Ronald Noble said in the statement.

Nonetheless, Spanish police, acting on the Interpol warrant and permission from a local judge,arrested Mr. Gusinsky just before midnight Monday, Mr. Mostoles said.

Now, Russian officials will have the chance to make their case before Spain's National Tribunal, the same court that demanded that the United Kingdom extradite former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. Mr. Gusinsky will be allowed to bring in his own defense team, including Mr. Astakhov and Henry Reznik, two of Russia's most prominent lawyers, Mr. Mostoles said.

"The court will be analyzing whether they have the legal basis to extradite him," Mr. Mostoles said. "They need to see if everything complies with the law, if Mr. Gusinsky is accused rightly and with any judicial basis."

Russia and Spain do not have an extradition treaty, though there have been two extraditions since 1999, when the countries signed an agreement to fight money laundering, Mr. Mostoles said.

It is not clear how quickly Mr. Gusinsky's case will come before the Tribunal, though Mr. Mostoles said it "will not be immediately."

Mr. Gusinsky, who has business interests in Israel as well as Russia, holds Russian and Israeli citizenship and is a legal resident in Spain.

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Congress of the United States
Washington, DC 20515

December 13, 2000

His Excellency Angel Acebes
Minister of Justice
Republic of Spain
Madrid, Spain
Dear Mr. Minister:

As Members of the United States Congress, we turn to you with a sense of shared democratic values and a common vision for the future of civil society in the Russian Federation. The recent arrest of Vladimir Goussinsky in Spain has presented your nation with a special opportunity to advance these ideals.

America, which was created in the crucible of a free press, and Western nations such as Spain, which are sustained by it, can never afford to underestimate the symbolic or actual impact of information on the evolution of free and stable societies. Mr. Goussinsky, founder of the only major independent news enterprise in Russia, has ensured the delivery of accurate information to the Russian people on a variety of pressing issues – including the horrific human costs of the Chechnya campaign – without regard to the personal and political dangers he faced. The international warrant, which precipitated Mr. Goussinsky’s arrest in Spain, can only be understood as an attempt by enemies of a free press to pursue him beyond the confines of Russia’s own questionable legal system – literally, to the ends of the earth.

The international stature of Spain is evident in so many ways, and the evolution of Spanish democracy amid a history of domestic and international challenges presents a model of which you and your compatriots should be very proud. Together, we share a hope and an effort to help replace the ruins of Soviet communism with the positive gifts of democracy and human rights, which can only succeed if the free press exists and its symbols are respected rather than demonized.

We appeal to you and the institutions of the Spanish justice system to ensure that Mr. Goussinsky’s personal safety and political cause – and the growing lights of Russian popular participation – are not eclipsed by adherence to the dubious Russian warrant issued last month.

Thank you for your friendship and for your commitment to the values we treasure.

                             Sincerely,

Gordon H. Smith
United States Senate Tom Lantos
Member of Congress

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The Washington Post

An Unwarranted Arrest
Editorial
Wednesday, December 13, 2000
VLADIMIR PUTIN'S war against Russia's independent civil society has now spread beyond the country's borders. Yesterday Spanish police, acting on a warrant issued by Moscow through the Interpol network, arrested Vladimir Gusinsky, the founder of Russia's lone privately controlled television network. Mr. Gusinsky left Russia earlier this year after Mr. Putin's government launched a campaign against the country's remaining independent media--of which the television station NTV is the flagship. Now the state security apparatus that Mr. Putin is rapidly rebuilding is trying to enlist the help of a European Union government in capturing Mr. Gusinsky and returning him to Russia--no doubt for one of the show trials that Mr. Putin's police and prosecutors have lately been staging.

As it happens, Mr. Gusinsky's case has been assigned to the same Spanish judge, Baltasar Garzon, whose effort to extradite Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet became a controversial landmark of international justice. This time there can be no controversy; the cause of human rights runs squarely against extradition. Though hardly a saint--he is one of the country's notorious post-Communist "oligarchs"--Mr. Gusinsky has bankrolled media outlets that have been at the forefront of critical reporting on the Russian government and military during both the Yeltsin and Putin presidencies. (In addition to NTV, a radio station and a newspaper, his company's holdings include a weekly newsmagazine published in association with Newsweek, which is owned by The Washington Post Co.) Mr. Putin, in contrast, increasingly resembles Mr. Pinochet in his attempt to build an authoritarian state to preside over a liberal market economy.

The state's case against Mr. Gusinsky, never strong, is now pure pretense. The general prosecutor's charge is that Mr. Gusinsky's company borrowed several hundred million dollars from the energy conglomerate Gazprom and failed to repay it. But a deal resolving that business dispute was struck weeks ago, making Mr. Gusinsky's "crime" moot. That, of course, is not really what is bothering Mr. Putin's police. More likely, it is that NTV has managed to remain independent. Just last weekend, for example, star commentator Yevgeny Kiselyov ravaged Mr. Putin's proposal to reinstate the Soviet Union's anthem for Russia and return the Soviet red flag to the armed forces.

The Spanish police did Mr. Putin's Federal Security Service an unnecessary and unjustified favor by arresting Mr. Gusinsky, since Moscow's warrant had not yet been sanctioned by Interpol headquarters. Now his case will become a crucial test of the willingness of European governments to tolerate a restoration of KGB tactics in Russia. Mr. Putin has worked hard to charm European Union leaders, proposing new economic and security deals and volunteering his help in resisting the "hegemonic" policies of the United States. So far the Europeans have eagerly played along; but to collaborate in Mr. Putin's attempt to bend the international system of justice to serve his campaign against Mr. Gusinsky would be to ratify the rule of secret police in Russia once again. The Spanish government holds the power to make the final decision about extraditions; backed by its European Union partners, it should make clear now that Mr. Gusinsky will remain free.

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The Moscow Times
Wednesday, December 13, 2000

NTV's Gusinsky Arrested In Spain
By Andrei Zolotov Jr.
Staff Writer
Spanish police arrested Vladimir Gusinsky, who is wanted in Russia on fraud charges, at his home in southern Spain in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

The arrest was made at the request of the Prosecutor General’s Office in Moscow, which issued an arrest warrant for Gusinsky last month after he failed to turn up for questioning in a criminal investigation.

Prosecutors have charged Gusinsky with stripping assets from his Media-MOST holding, a media empire that includes NTV television, Ekho Moskvy radio and the Segodnya newspaper.

Police arrested Gusinsky at his home in Sotogrande and took him to a police station in the town of La Linea, near the British colony of Gibraltar."Members of the national police arrested Vladimir Gusinsky in his residence in Sotogrande at 00.10 local time [2:10 a.m. Moscow time]," a Spanish police spokesman was quoted by Reuters as saying.

The police said they were holding Gusinsky pending a court decision over whether to press ahead with extradition proceedings.

Media-MOST spokesman Dmitry Ostalsky said the local court refused to rule on the case and passed it to a higher court in Madrid.

Gusinsky was to be escorted to Madrid to attend hearings presided by Baltazar Garson, the same judge who demanded the extradition of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, Ekho Moskvy reported Tuesday.

Ostalsky lashed out at the arrest, saying that the case was politically motivated and that Russian law enforcement officials had misled their Spanish counterparts to secure the arrest.

Gusinsky has for months accused the government of trying to crack down on him in retaliation for Media-MOST’s broadcast of coverage critical