Young Russian demonstrators hold flags showing the NTV station logo
Paul Quinn-Judge: This is a very good example both of the desires and of the limitations of President Vladimir Putin. His fundamental desire is to have a well-controlled society, and an integral part of that desire is to have the electronic media, which unlike most Russian newspapers actually has a nationwide reach, under his control. So he's been slicing away at NTV all year, using all manner of economic pressure and police investigation to erode the network's independence and bring it under the control of elements sympathetic to the Kremlin. Yet, when Putin tries to make a bold authoritarian move, he reveals himself to be an inexperienced leader with an inexperienced team, and that's landed him in a mess over NTV.
People close to the Kremlin have all but admitted in the last few days that their move on NTV is politically motivated. They've justified this on the basis that they see NTV as a rival political party rather than simply a news outlet. So, for example, the Kremlin accused NTV of lying about the sinking of the submarine Kursk, whereas in fact they did some rather good reporting on the incident. So why are they in a mess?
Where to begin... Well, the crisis was triggered when the state-owned Gazprom corporation, NTV's largest creditor, called a board of directors meeting at the start of the week and sought to impose a new management on its holding company. But there are considerable doubts about whether Monday's meeting was actually legal. Indeed, one of the lawyers working for Gazprom resigned yesterday, saying had doubts about the legality of the takeover and described it as a miserable piece of work. He also broadly hinted that Gazprom's move was a political operation rather than a financial one.
The men appointed at this meeting to head the new board of directors are real losers. They're widely described as having a questionable past, and the speaker of the lower house of the Duma even referred to them as "sort of swindlers." To make matters worse, the Communist Party, which hates NTV, has now swung round to support it against the takeover, because one of the men Putin has put in charge is an American, Boris Jordan. It's like he was trying to see how many toes he could tread on simultaneously. The Kremlin has alienated a number of different constituencies in one, not very fell swoop.
Can the proposed investment by an international consortium headed by Ted Turner help preserve NTV's independence?
It possibly can. Turner's well-known lack of admiration for Alfred Kokh and Jordan, the men placed in charge in the clumsy Kremlin-backed bid for control, is probably one of the things undermining the government's position. The government understands that if he buys 45-49 percent of the stock, he wants nothing to do with these guys — and that undermines their position even before he buys anything. So if Turner buys in — if the government allows him to — then NTV could be saved. While I don't believe Americans or anyone else should be running other countries' media, I think under the present circumstances he could do a lot to protect and nurture NTV.
So Putin's attempted putsch has failed, at least for now. But the network's prospects still look pretty grim. After all, how much does Putin have to fear from a demonstration in Moscow?
This standoff, and the planned demonstration, is a problem for Putin, although not a big one. It's not going to shake his grip on Russian public opinion, but he's in a no-win situation. If he uses strong-arm tactics to close the network down, that will create a messy political situation. But if he doesn't, he'll look like he's unable to follow through on his threats. Of course Putin's modus operandi is to deny any knowledge that these things are even going on, but in reality the NTV standoff presents him with a major political dilemma.