Washington discontented with Russia

The USA “expresses its deep dissatisfaction” in connection with the latest developments around independent media outlets, including the loss of “independent voices” in the NTV television network and Segodnya newspaper and Itogi magazine, and also the tax evasion accusations brought against the TNT television channel’s accountant. The above “dissatisfaction” has been expressed in a statement issued by Richard Baucher, the official representative by State Department of USA. “The campaign against the Media-Most is politically motivated,” and Media-Most-controlled media outlets have over the last year undergone an “extraordinary pressure from law-enforcement bodies and other government agencies,” Mr. Baucher asserts. He says the US is “exclusively concerned” that the change of the management at the NTV, closing of the Segodnya newspaper and Itogi magazine, and also a “police action against the TNT” will reduce chances for the Russians to receive a broad spectrum of news and views.” According to the State Department representative, freedom of speech and the mass media pluralism in Russia is “endangered as the Russian government continues to use political pressure and intimidation to limit people’s access to unfiltered information sources.”