Resignations rock Russian radio

Station was part of the empire of media tycoon Vladimir Gusinsky

MOSCOW, Russia -- Campaigners for Russia's free media say they have suffered another blow after mass resignations from a popular independent radio station.

Most of the top management resigned after a court decision put the station under the authority of the government-controlled natural gas company.

Irina Tsvei, deputy chief editor for Echo of Moscow radio, and four other deputy editors resigned on Thursday in protest at the takeover by Gazprom.

The Russian government holds the majority of seats on the Gazprom board. "As of today, we are a state-run company," Tsvei said.

Echo of Moscow was part of embattled tycoon Vladimir Gusinsky's Media-Most holding.

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In a series of complicated moves that critics said were aimed at stifling independent media, other Media-Most properties, including NTV television network, this year came under control of Gazprom.

CNN's Jill Dougherty in Moscow said many had expected Gazprom to win control of Echo as part of the campaign to dismantle Gusinsky's empire.

Echo of Moscow chief editor Alexei Venediktov has remained in his post to continue fighting for the station's independence, Tsvei said.

Gazprom insists that its media takeovers are strictly business matters stemming from huge loans to Gusinsky.

But NTV reporting on President Vladimir Putin and the war in Chechnya has declined sharply since the takeover. Before the takeover NTV had been critical of the Chechen campaign and some of Putin's policies.

The equally critical Media-Most newspaper Segodnya was shut down after Gazprom gained control and the editorial staff of the news magazine Itogi was replaced.

Russian authorities have charged Gusinsky with fraud and money-laundering, in what his supporters call political persecution.

The Kremlin insists is only an attempt to end alleged financial misdeeds by powerful tycoons.

Gusinsky has been living abroad in recent months and a Spanish court has rejected Moscow's demand to extradite him.

Echo of Moscow meanwhile continued its critical reporting and cast about for ways to remain independent.

Its employees held 28 percent of the station's shares and were negotiating to obtain a controlling stake.

But on Wednesday, a Moscow court handed Gazprom a controlling interest, a ruling that radio station leaders called incomprehensible and legally dubious.

Before the ruling, companies affiliated with Gazprom held just over 25 percent in Echo of Moscow. Gazprom held another 25 percent as collateral for old loans to Media-Most.

The loans were to be paid back by July 13, but the Moscow City Court awarded the 25 percent share to Gazprom without waiting for the expiration of the grace period.

"For some reason, this whole question was decided on Wednesday," Tsvei said.

Echo of Moscow was the only independent radio station that managed to stay on air during a 1991 attempted hard-line coup against then-Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev.

In recent weeks, Echo of Moscow had been in talks about buying a controlling interest from Gusinsky and from Gazprom -- a measure that would have allowed it to preserve editorial freedom.

Gusinsky had agreed to hand over his 14 percent stake and Gazprom announced on Wednesday it would sell a nine percent share -- the moves together would have given station bosses a majority stake.

But on Monday, prosecutors froze the 14 percent stake Gusinsky had agreed to turn over to Echo of Moscow.

The prosecutor-general's office said that the shares were arrested to be held as collateral for possible damages in their fraud case against Gusinsky.