Former RBC CEO Derk Sauer will buy The Moscow Times

Derk Sauer, founder of Independent Media and former CEO of RBC holding, will buy The Moscow Times, which is owned by the family of Vedomosti owner Demyan Kudryavtsev. This was reported by RNS with reference to unnamed sources.

Meduza's sources in the media market also confirm the upcoming deal.

According to RNS, "the parties are close to a deal." Derk Sauer did not respond to an RNS request and Kudryavtsev declined to comment.

Update. Derk Sauer told RBC that he is not negotiating the purchase of The Moscow Times, but is discussing how he can help the newspaper.

• The Moscow Times was founded in 1992 and was the first publication to be part of Derk Sauer's Independent Media holding. Until 2015, it was part of Sanoma Independent Media along with the Business News Media holding, the then publisher of the Vedomosti newspaper.
• In April 2015, The Moscow Times was bought by Demyan Kudryavtsev - at the same time he acquired other publications of Sanoma, including a third belonging to the holding in the publisher Vedomosti. According to RBC, the deal amounted to four million euros. The sale of assets to Kudryavtsev was linked to the “foreigners in the media” law, which prohibits citizens of other states from owning more than 20 percent of Russian publications.
• Shortly after the change in ownership, it was announced that the newspaper would be moving from a daily to a weekly format to cut costs.