MEDIA SQUEEZE: GUSINSKY….

It is not enough that NTV belongs to the gas company while print publications Itogi and Segodnya are closed. The Kremlin wants to make Vladimir Gusinsky, the former owner of those properties, a martyr for freedom of the press.

No sooner did a Spanish court deny Russia’s request to extradite Gusinsky on charges of fraud, than the prosecutor general demanded his re-arrest on new charges of money laundering. Interpol has been alerted. According to one report, Gusinsky left Spain for Gibraltar and Israel barely a step ahead of the sheriff. The National Press Club in Washington has reportedly invited Gusinsky to speak this month on press freedom in Russia. If he comes to the United States, the Russian prosecutors want to know, will American authorities take him into custody?