MEDIA NOTES

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–Kiselev is not the only newsman looking to move into management. The press ministry awarded Aleksei Venediktov, editor-in-chief of Gazprom’s Radio Ekho Moskvy, licenses for two FM frequencies and a UHF TV frequency in Moscow. Venediktov, who had threatened to quit rather than work for a station “controlled by the state,” praised the ministry for recognizing the superiority of his business plan.

–Boris Berezovsky said he would present “documentary evidence” against the Russian security services, and he did. At a London press conference, Berezovsky screened segments of a French television documentary that speculates on official complicity in the September 1999 apartment-house bombings that killed hundreds and triggered renewal of the war in Chechnya. Berezovsky said he will ask the European Union to investigate. In Russia, Berezovsky is charged with financial fraud (diversion of Aeroflot profits) and support of terrorist groups (ransoming hostages held by Chechen rebels).

–Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, a U.S.-government-funded operation, postponed the inauguration of broadcasts in Caucasian languages Avar, Circassian and Chechen. The State Department said the broadcasts could hinder progress toward a political settlement in Chechnya.