Pro-Kremlin businessman buys Russian business newspaper

A little-known Russian media executive with close commercial ties to the state has bought leading business newspaper Vedomosti, reports Max Seddon of the Financial Times.

Seddon reports, “Staff at Vedomosti say the eleventh-hour appearance of Ivan Eremin to rescue the sale is unlikely to ease their stand-off with the paper’s new acting editor, whom they claim banned writing on topics that the Kremlin considers taboo.

“The clash over Vedomosti, according to its reporters, shows the Kremlin wants to increase its control over what little remains of the nominally independent media. In recent years, several other outlets have been sold to Kremlin-friendly owners and have installed pliant editors, prompting staff to quit en masse.

“A consortium led by publisher Demyan Kudryavtsev took over Vedomosti — co-founded and formerly co-owned by the FT and the Wall Street Journal — in 2015 after Russia limited foreign ownership of media to 20 per cent.”

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