New Goodwill Games

On May 11, 2000, Vladimir Putin discussed with Ted Turner the prospects for Russian-American economic cooperation. Eight months later, the Kremlin effectively blocked the media tycoon’s attempt to acquire a stake in Media-Most. (Photo: AP )

Last Tuesday, the head of the financial department of Media-Most was detained and taken to Butyrka prison. Anton Titov, who came to the prosecutor's office to testify in the so-called "Gusinsky case." Now he shares a cell in one of the darkest Russian prisons with Andrei Kozlenok and three other “intelligent people” imprisoned for economic crimes. On Friday, the property of Vladimir Gusinsky was seized in Russia and reports emerged of Deputy Prosecutor General Vasily Kolmogorov's intention to hold negotiations in Spain about the seizure of the businessman's property in the Pyrenees. And this is not a complete list of the exploits of law enforcement hercules - in the last week alone, they can be counted almost a dozen. Prosecutors continue to scour the company's offices in search of documents provided to investigators last summer, and the courts are considering claims either to declare TNT bankrupt or to transfer ownership of 19% of NTV shares to Gazprom. However, now there is irrefutable evidence that all this is being done by order of the Kremlin.

Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported on a meeting between representatives of media tycoon Ted Turner and the first deputy head of the Kremlin administration, Dmitry Medvedev. The Americans turned to the Kremlin official with a question: will the Kremlin approve the purchase of a 25% stake in NTV and will the president guarantee the channel’s freedom from political interference in the future? Medvedev, speaking on behalf of the president, refused to provide such assurances. The newspaper also cites the statement of the head of Gazprom-Media, Alfred Koch, that his “company wants to find a strategic foreign investor for NTV, but first it wants to put the channel under its full control.” And, according to Koch, Dmitry Medvedev supported this approach of the lender.

The authorities stopped being shy and quite openly admitted that their real interest is not in returning the money that Most owes to Gazprom, but in strangling an independent and disloyal media company and establishing complete unanimity on television. As a matter of fact, no one had any particular doubts about this before. The most naive observers should have dispelled them after the publication of “Appendix #6”, in which, signed by Press Minister Mikhail Lesin, the Most management was given guarantees of freedom, security and the cessation of criminal prosecution in exchange for the sale of the entire holding. However, in September, when a scandal erupted around the document, Kremlin insiders tried to create the impression that the president had nothing to do with what happened.

Now the situation is fundamentally different: the refusal to provide political guarantees of non-interference was made by an official speaking on behalf of the president. Now the version about the evil boyars and the good, ignorant tsar turned out to be unnecessary even for the propagandists who were devoted and in love with Putin.

The Kremlin, naturally, was not satisfied with the implementation of the settlement agreement between Most and Gazprom, according to which a share in the Media-Most holding could be sold to a foreign investor in the near future, which means that the opportunity to legally nationalize NTV would be lost. And the unprecedented frankness of Kremlin officials is caused by uncertainty in the successful completion of all criminal cases and litigation: the prosecutor’s office, as practice shows, is good at intimidation, but it is much worse at winning cases in court.

The Kremlin team’s fears are not unfounded: Ted Turner, who entered into negotiations with the Kremlin, does not represent himself personally, but a rather serious consortium of potential investors interested in acquiring not just a stake in NTV, but a share in the management of the entire Media-Most. Another thing is that the initiative to send emissaries to the Kremlin for political guarantees could have come directly from Turner, since the American businessman has extensive experience working not just with Russia, but with the totalitarian Soviet Union. But for exactly the same reason, you can be sure that he will not just give up on his intention.

So far, Turner's reaction to Dmitry Medvedev's statement has been more than restrained: "I have communicated my interest to Vladimir Putin. I am awaiting a response." But there is no doubt that if the president and his advisers persist and continue to insist on their desire to sell the media holding themselves, a more severe reaction will follow. And it can have a very negative impact on the reputation of the Russian authorities and will significantly complicate the process of attracting other foreign investors.

It is worth recalling one more detail: Ted Turner was the first major Western entrepreneur with whom Vladimir Putin met, as soon as he took office as head of state. This meeting took place on May 11, at the very hours when investigators from the prosecutor’s office, with the support of FSB special forces, staged the first “mask show” in the central office of Most. While machine gunners locked company employees in the cafeteria and took away their mobile phones in order to cut off their contacts with the outside world, the president recalled working together with an American media mogul at the Goodwill Games in 1994 in St. Petersburg.

After eight months, two media moguls - Turner and Gusinsky - found themselves on the same side of the barricade. And not a trace remained of the friendly tone of the Kremlin authorities.