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Russian politicians defend embattled TV channel
By Peter Graff
MOSCOW, Nov 27 (Reuters) - Russian politicians from the left and the right have come to the defence of the largest television station still seen as outside the Kremlin's grip, a day after a court ruling that could shut it down.
The station, TV6 is the home of journalists who left the former independent station NTV, taken over by the state-backed natural gas monopoly last year in a battle critics said raised doubts about President Vladimir Putin's tolerance of dissent.
A pension fund linked to Russia's largest oil company, LUKOIL, owns 15 percent of TV6 and has sued to shut it on grounds that it is poorly managed. A Moscow appeals court upheld an order on Monday that would shut the station within six months because of persistent losses, but TV6 has vowed to launch new appeals in order to stay on the air.
"I think this is a continuation of the policy aimed at depriving our society of the ability to receive independent information," Sergei Ivanenko, deputy head of the liberal Yabloko party, told Interfax news agency on Tuesday.
Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov said: "The authorities are trying more and more to concentrate the information resources in the hands of a single Voloshin group," referring to Kremlin chief of staff Alexander Voloshin.
Government officials, echoing the Kremlin's position in the NTV scandal over the past year, say the courts must decide the issue.
Interfax quoted Media Minister Mikhail Lesin as saying the court ruling "saddens us, because the media business has already suffered as much turmoil as it could survive."
But he added that he would carry out any legally binding decision according to the law.
Putin says he is committed to free speech, but has denounced the owners of the country's commercial media outlets for challenging the state.
TV6 is controlled by Boris Berezovsky, a businessman who was close to the Kremlin under former President Boris Yeltsin, but has fallen afoul of Putin.
Berezovsky is in self-imposed exile and a warrant has been issued for his arrest in connection with an investigation into misappropriation of funds from flagship air carrier Aeroflot. He says the charges are politically motivated.
TV6 was a relatively minor player in Russia until NTV was taken over, but has since revamped its schedule with successful entertainment shows as well as news, analysis and political satire by former NTV staff. The shows are often strongly critical of Putin.
It has scored ratings success with shows like "Behind the Glass," Russia's first Big Brother-style reality show, and says its improving financial condition should have negated the LUKOIL-controlled fund's arguments for shutting it down.
"The court adopted a formal position and refused to take into consideration TV6's arguments that its financial position had improved with favourable prospects for next year," station spokeswoman Tatyana Blinova said on Monday.
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