Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08MOSCOW2831
2008-09-22 12:32:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Moscow
Cable title:
EKHO'S VENEDIKTOV ON SHIFTING MEDIA ENVIRONMENT
how-toVZCZCXYZ0001 RR RUEHWEB DE RUEHMO #2831 2661232 ZNY CCCCC ZZH R 221232Z SEP 08 FM AMEMBASSY MOSCOW TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0074 INFO RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE RUEHXD/MOSCOW POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
C O N F I D E N T I A L MOSCOW 002831
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/22/2018
TAGS: PHUM PGOV PREL RS GG
SUBJECT: EKHO'S VENEDIKTOV ON SHIFTING MEDIA ENVIRONMENT
REF: MOSCOW 2775
Classified By: Political M/C Alice G. Wells: Reasons 1.4 (b, d).
C O N F I D E N T I A L MOSCOW 002831
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/22/2018
TAGS: PHUM PGOV PREL RS GG
SUBJECT: EKHO'S VENEDIKTOV ON SHIFTING MEDIA ENVIRONMENT
REF: MOSCOW 2775
Classified By: Political M/C Alice G. Wells: Reasons 1.4 (b, d).
1. (C) On September 22, Ekho Moskvy Chief Editor Aleksey
Venediktov elaborated on his brush with Putin (reftel),
arguing that Prime Minister's August 29 attack on the radio
station during a private gathering of editors and television
producers in Sochi was a "demonstrative signal" that freedom
of the media was a Putin prerogative and not part of
President Medvedev's domain. There had been a noticeable
"cooling" of the media environment, he argued, with more
independent outlets such as Nezavisimaya Gazeta adopting a
lower profile and REN-TV (with the notable exception of
Marina Maksimova) curbing critical coverage. The
cancellation of Vladimir Posner's political talk show, along
with anti-corruption crusader Vladimir Solovyev's radio
program, had further shrunk the media environment. With the
country "encircled by enemies," he noted ironically, "the
logic of military times" had taken precedence, meaning
patriotism trumped news. Venediktov noted that the Russian
news service had selectively edited the French Prime
Minister's September 20 comments in Sochi critical of Russian
actions in South Ossetia and Abkhazia (even though they
appeared in full on Putin's website).
2. (C) Venediktov attributed Ekho's survival to the
intervention of Presidential Administration Deputy Head
Aleksey Gromov and White House Press Secretary Dmitry
Peshkov, with former RAO UES Chubais also weighing in with
Putin. While a criminal case was "on the shelf," ready to
launch against the station or to justify Venediktov's removal
by Gazprom (Ekho's owner),critics of the radio station had
been dealt a setback by Putin's "seventeen minute" one-on-one
with Venediktov. Having emerged in one piece and "with no
obvious marks of distress," Venediktov said he had
consciously refrained from publicizing the details of the
conversation, and the resulting uncertainty was enough to
prevent other sycophantic assaults on the station and its
personnel. Noting that Yuliya Latynina was back on the air
September 19 following her vacation, with an aggressive
expose of a potential security services hit squad operating
against ethnic Ingush in Moscow, Venediktov maintained that
Putin had not targeted individual journalists, but had held
the Ekho editor responsible for all the commentary aired on
the station.
3. (C) According to Venediktov, Putin said that his friends
liked to listen to Ekho and had told him that the station was
important for Russia. "I agree," the Prime Minister
reportedly stressed to Venediktov, "but in times of war you
cannot support the enemy." In a subsequent meeting with Duma
deputies, Putin reportedly told them that Ekho was good for
Russia's reputation and that he was confident Venediktov
understood what was acceptable. While stressing that he had
defended Ekho's precarious position as a voice for opposition
opinions, Venediktov noted that the Washington Post article
on the station's plight, for which he had not been the
original source, had rattled his employees. Two had been
lured by former Ekho commentator Sergey Dorenko to the
Russian Radio Service, which Venediktov believed was being
built up as a potential Ekho rival.
4. (C) Venediktov warned the U.S. not to underestimate the
black-white prism through which the Georgia conflict was
viewed by the Russian leadership. Both Putin and Medvedev,
he stressed, are convinced that the U.S. ordered the Georgian
attack on Tskhinvali or - at a minimum - gave Saakashvili
permission. Only the "red folders" prepared by the security
services explain Putin's continued insistence on the presence
of U.S. personnel in the fighting, the delivery of military
supplies in humanitarian assistance, and the Fox news
"conspiracy" that allegedly silenced the criticism by a young
South Ossetian girl and her aunt against Saakashvili.
5. (C) Comment: Conservative members of the media, such as
Aleksey Pushkov and Maksim Shevchenko, readily concede to us
that there has been no improvement in the media environment.
Pushkov, confident in American complicity in the onset of
war, told us we should expect nothing less from a moderately
authoritarian government.
BEYRLE
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/22/2018
TAGS: PHUM PGOV PREL RS GG
SUBJECT: EKHO'S VENEDIKTOV ON SHIFTING MEDIA ENVIRONMENT
REF: MOSCOW 2775
Classified By: Political M/C Alice G. Wells: Reasons 1.4 (b, d).
1. (C) On September 22, Ekho Moskvy Chief Editor Aleksey
Venediktov elaborated on his brush with Putin (reftel),
arguing that Prime Minister's August 29 attack on the radio
station during a private gathering of editors and television
producers in Sochi was a "demonstrative signal" that freedom
of the media was a Putin prerogative and not part of
President Medvedev's domain. There had been a noticeable
"cooling" of the media environment, he argued, with more
independent outlets such as Nezavisimaya Gazeta adopting a
lower profile and REN-TV (with the notable exception of
Marina Maksimova) curbing critical coverage. The
cancellation of Vladimir Posner's political talk show, along
with anti-corruption crusader Vladimir Solovyev's radio
program, had further shrunk the media environment. With the
country "encircled by enemies," he noted ironically, "the
logic of military times" had taken precedence, meaning
patriotism trumped news. Venediktov noted that the Russian
news service had selectively edited the French Prime
Minister's September 20 comments in Sochi critical of Russian
actions in South Ossetia and Abkhazia (even though they
appeared in full on Putin's website).
2. (C) Venediktov attributed Ekho's survival to the
intervention of Presidential Administration Deputy Head
Aleksey Gromov and White House Press Secretary Dmitry
Peshkov, with former RAO UES Chubais also weighing in with
Putin. While a criminal case was "on the shelf," ready to
launch against the station or to justify Venediktov's removal
by Gazprom (Ekho's owner),critics of the radio station had
been dealt a setback by Putin's "seventeen minute" one-on-one
with Venediktov. Having emerged in one piece and "with no
obvious marks of distress," Venediktov said he had
consciously refrained from publicizing the details of the
conversation, and the resulting uncertainty was enough to
prevent other sycophantic assaults on the station and its
personnel. Noting that Yuliya Latynina was back on the air
September 19 following her vacation, with an aggressive
expose of a potential security services hit squad operating
against ethnic Ingush in Moscow, Venediktov maintained that
Putin had not targeted individual journalists, but had held
the Ekho editor responsible for all the commentary aired on
the station.
3. (C) According to Venediktov, Putin said that his friends
liked to listen to Ekho and had told him that the station was
important for Russia. "I agree," the Prime Minister
reportedly stressed to Venediktov, "but in times of war you
cannot support the enemy." In a subsequent meeting with Duma
deputies, Putin reportedly told them that Ekho was good for
Russia's reputation and that he was confident Venediktov
understood what was acceptable. While stressing that he had
defended Ekho's precarious position as a voice for opposition
opinions, Venediktov noted that the Washington Post article
on the station's plight, for which he had not been the
original source, had rattled his employees. Two had been
lured by former Ekho commentator Sergey Dorenko to the
Russian Radio Service, which Venediktov believed was being
built up as a potential Ekho rival.
4. (C) Venediktov warned the U.S. not to underestimate the
black-white prism through which the Georgia conflict was
viewed by the Russian leadership. Both Putin and Medvedev,
he stressed, are convinced that the U.S. ordered the Georgian
attack on Tskhinvali or - at a minimum - gave Saakashvili
permission. Only the "red folders" prepared by the security
services explain Putin's continued insistence on the presence
of U.S. personnel in the fighting, the delivery of military
supplies in humanitarian assistance, and the Fox news
"conspiracy" that allegedly silenced the criticism by a young
South Ossetian girl and her aunt against Saakashvili.
5. (C) Comment: Conservative members of the media, such as
Aleksey Pushkov and Maksim Shevchenko, readily concede to us
that there has been no improvement in the media environment.
Pushkov, confident in American complicity in the onset of
war, told us we should expect nothing less from a moderately
authoritarian government.
BEYRLE