MONEY TALKS….

The Russian state owns 38 percent of natural-gas monopoly Gazprom, and Gazprom owns 30 percent of television station NTV, to which Gazprom is also a large lender. Almost alone among major broadcast media outlets, NTV has broadcast stories critical of Russian tactics in the Chechnya war. That may end. Gazprom’s Chairman Rem Vyakhirev, rumored to be slated for dismissal if Kremlin insiders have their way, says NTV’s coverage of the war is “simply inappropriate” and gives management cause to “think over where we invest our funds and how we control their use, taking into account our interests, which naturally cannot contradict the interests of the state.” NTV has also borrowed heavily from state-owned banks Sberbank and Vneshekonombank and so is vulnerable to financial pressure from the Kremlin. The leading figure in NTV is Vladimir Gusinsky, the banking and media tycoon who is politically linked to Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, a Kremlin rival.