Russian media magnate arrested

MADRID, Spain -- Acting on a warrant from Moscow, Spanish police arrested Russian media magnate Vladimir Gusinsky in southern Spain and flew him to Madrid on Tuesday for a hearing on whether he should be extradited to face fraud charges.

Gusinsky -- one of the so-called oligarchs who used ties to the Kremlin to amass quick fortunes in privatisation deals in the 1990s -- was arrested shortly at around midnight on Monday at a villa he owns in the beach community of San Roque in southern Cadiz province, a National Police official said.

In Moscow, a spokesman for Gusinsky's Media-Most company called the fraud charges purely political and said Spain should reject the extradition request.

The spokesman, Dmitry Ostalsky, said the Russian prosecutor general's office -- via the Russian branch of the International Criminal Police Organisation, known as Interpol -- misled Spanish police by submitting materials "that bear no relation to reality," Interfax news agency reported.

"It's hard to imagine that the law enforcement authorities of one of the Interpol member states would deliberately deceive the international community," Ostalsky said.

The U.S. State Department said the pursuit of the media magnate posed a threat to the independence of the Russian media.

Russian prosecutors accuse Gusinsky of misrepresenting assets in Media-Most when he accepted loans of more than $300 million guaranteed by Russia's natural gas monopoly Gazprom. They say Gusinsky's companies were legally bankrupt at the time.

Gusinsky has rejected the allegations against him, describing them as a Kremlin attempt to punish him for criticism of the government in his media outlets.

After Gusinsky fell out with the Kremlin last year, his news outlets including the flagship NTV -- the only one of Russia's three major television networks that is not controlled by the government -- have run exposes on official corruption and incompetence.

VIDEO CNN's John Goodman reports the arrest of Vladimir Gusinsky in Spain may be politically motivated Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)   MESSAGE BOARD Changes in Russia

The Spanish National Police official would give no details of the arrest other than to say Gusinsky put up no resistance. Gusinsky visits Spain periodically, and his family lives in the San Roque villa, the official said.

The media mogul was indicted in Russia on November 13 on charges of fraud. The international arrest warrant, processed by Interpol, was issued last week after he failed to turn up for questioning.

Media-Most came under pressure from Gazprom for repayment of several hundred million dollars in debt resulting from loan guarantees Gazprom gave the company. Media-Most settled the matter by giving stock to Gazprom to cover the debt, but says it preserved its news media organisation's independence.

Media-Most accuses the Kremlin of using the debt dispute and the investigation against Gusinsky to crank up pressure on NTV.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has insisted that he supports media freedom and has nothing to do with the Media-Most debt negotiations or the investigations.

Gusinsky was unexpectedly jailed for four days earlier this year when he showed up for questioning in a privatization fraud case. The charges, which he called politically motivated, were later dropped.

Ostalsky, the Media-Most spokesman, said earlier this month that Gusinsky would declare himself a victim of political repression if he faces extradition.

On Tuesday, Ostalsky predicted that Spain would reject Moscow's request.

"There will be no extradition because the political aspect of the charges by the Russian Prosecutor General's Office against Gusinsky is obvious," he was quoted as saying by Interfax.

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