Putin Govt. takes over private TV

By Vladimir Radyuhin

MOSCOW, APRIL 14. Russia's only private nation-wide TV channel has come under Government control when Interior Ministry troops replaced NTV security guards early on Saturday, making it possible for a new pro-Kremlin management to take charge.

Journalists arriving for work on Saturday were allowed to enter the building only after signing a statement agreeing to recognise the new management.

The takeover came two weeks after the state-run natural gas monopoly, Gazprom, ousted NTV's top officials at a shareholders meeting taking advantage of the channel's debts to Gazprom. NTV journalists refused to comply with the decision, citing numerous violations of the law and Government pressure on courts. They appealed against the NTV takeover in an arbitration court which is to hear the case next month, and continued to broadcast until being ousted by the new management on Saturday.

After the takeover, at least 35 of NTV's most prominent journalists walked out and began broadcasting news on TNT, a smaller cable channel operated by NTV's parent company Media- Most.

The NTV seizure has triggered a major political scandal in Russia, with liberal politicians accusing the President, Mr. Vladimir Putin, of muzzling the press. Over the past two weeks, thousands of people demonstrated in support of NTV in Moscow, St. Petersburg and other major cities of the country.

Mr. Putin has all along insisted the conflict over NTV was a purely commercial dispute between its shareholders.

The director of the state-run RTR television, Mr. Oleg Dobrodeyev, resigned on Saturday in protest against the seizure of NTV by force. Mr. Dobrodeyev, one of the founders of NTV and its former director, announced his resignation at the channel's headquarters where he had come during the takeover fearing that the situation could develop according to the worst possible scenario. At the same time, he criticised the old NTV management for aggravating the crisis by refusing to seek compromise with the Government.

The Kremlin appears to have hurried to end the stand- off over NTV before the arbitration court could hear the case in order to discourage the U.S. media tycoon, Mr. Ted Turner, from buying a minority stake in NTV from its founder, Mr. Vladimir Gusinsky, who is now exiled in Spain. Mr. Turner had earlier said he was in talks with Mr. Gusinsky to acquire 36 per cent of NTV shares.

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