Warrant issued for Russian media magnate

Gusinsky's detention was criticised as a move by President Putin to silence free speech

MOSCOW, Russia (Reuters) -- Russia's general prosecutor issued an arrest warrant on Monday for media magnate Vladimir Gusinsky on embezzlement charges, Russian news agencies reported.

Interfax quoted the prosecutor's press office as saying that investigator Valery Niolayev was pressing large-scale embezzlement charges against Gusinsky, who is currently out of the country.

The warrant said Gusinsky was being sought throughout Russia and that he was to be held in detention. Gusinsky's lawyer, Genri Reznik, had earlier said that prosecutors had refused to outline the charges against his client or whether he would be subject to detention.

The disclosure of the charges against Gusinsky, jailed briefly earlier this year for alleged embezzlement, was made after news reports that his Media-Most group had clinched an agreement on eliminating its large debts.

Gusinsky's jailing for three days in June on embezzlement charges caused an international outcry and raised doubts over President Vladimir Putin's commitment to press freedom.

Putin has said he stands for a free press but accused some journalists of engaging in polemics to damage the state.

Gusinsky, a former theatre director, pieced together a vast media empire in the mid-1990s led by the flagship private television company NTV. The group was one of several media outlets to campaign openly for ex-President Boris Yeltsin's 1996 re-election against a Communist challenger.

It has since periodically run foul of the Kremlin for critical coverage, particularly of Russia's two military campaigns against Chechen rebels.

Reznik said Gusinsky was "in Europe" and had no intention of turning up at court or the prosecutor's office.

"My client does not wish to become a victim of lawlessness and cause further suffering to those close to him," he said.

News agencies reported that Media-Most and Gazprom Media had signed an accord at the weekend to clear $211.6 million in debts. It said the debt would be settled by transferring Media-Most shares to Gazprom.

Media-Most spokesman Dmitry Ostalsky, quoted by the agencies, said the agreement would settle outstanding differences, but "does not involve editorial issues of mass media included in the group or personnel matters."

Ostalsky was quoted as saying that Media-Most pledged to abide by the agreement. Details would be confirmed and disclosed at a hearing on Tuesday of a Moscow court which had been due to deal with a suit launched by Gazprom to recover its debts.

Officials of neither Media-Most nor Gazprom Media were available for comment.

Gusinsky was released from prison and charges were dropped after a previous deal to settle Media-Most's debts which he later said he had been forced to sign.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Russian prosecutors pressure media magnates
November 1, 2000
Kremlin eyes independent media
August 2, 2000
Gusinsky released from jail, charged with embezzlement
June 16, 2000
Russian media mogul denounces arrest as attack on freedom
June 15, 2000

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