In a few days Russia’s last remotely independent radio station could be silenced. Ever since the country’s energy conglomerate Gazprom took a majority holding, Ekho Moskvy (Echo of Moscow) has battled against censorship. The station’s editor in chief, Alexei Venediktov, has long become accustomed to threats, but Friday’s meeting could mark the last for him. His station has already been given a final warning for airing a discussion about the fighting in Ukraine – information, said the regulator, that was “justifying war crimes”.
The fate of the station is symptomatic of a country where a clique of political, financial and security interests has trampled on anything in its way.
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