Gorbachev Bought Major Stake in Anti-Putin Newspaper

Although former Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev has never released official statements to denigrate current Russian president Vladimir Putin, the designer of "glasnost" and "perestroika" policies has bought, alongside Alexander Lebedev, a billionaire business man and member of the United Russia party, 49 per cent of the Novaya Gazeta newspaper, a journal which issued many ruthless articles addressing Putin and his political decisions. The remaining 51 percent belong to the paper's staff.

According to several Russian officials, who wanted to remain anonymous, Gorbachev is very concerned about the state of affairs regarding the absence of political pluralism in Russia, especially as far as the tough control of the state over the media is concerned. Many national TV stations have been bought by the state and thus delivered to its control, while several important newspapers and magazines changed their editorial policies when they were brought under the control of companies that supported the current Russian government.

Following news of his recent stake purchase, Gorbachev, who is currently attending the World Newspaper Congress, which meets on a weekly basis, stated that Novaya Gazeta will continue to have the same amount of freedom of expression as it had up to this point, as it will not be hindered by his or Lebedev's political views.

The newspaper had suffered quite a wide array of financial consequences due to the fact that it has harbored many of the journalists who expressed an anti-Kremlin point of view and were sacked afterwards from the TV stations and other publications they had been working for. As a consequence of this, the newspaper could not attract any major foreign or Russian investors, since the latter feared to be associated with a newspaper that expressed its anti-government views with such ease.