Deputy Speaker of the State Duma for the Yabloko faction Vladimir Lukin said that recently the federal and the regional authorities had increased their pressure on the mass media.

He made this statement at a meeting with representatives of the European parliament (members of the parliamentary committee "European Union - Russian Federation") which took place in Moscow on Monday, April 23, 2001.

Lukin, who is a co-chairman of this committee for Russia, noted that such pressure on the press reflects the recent trend connected with the intention of bureaucracy to "become stronger" and increase its power.

The freedom of press in Russia was the chief issue at the discussion with members of the committee. Here Lukin said that he understood the concern expressed on this issue by European parliament members.

However, Lukin also stressed that when speaking about the developments around the mass media in Russia, and in particular the events around the Media Most holding, one should ask oneself a single question, "Whether the freedom of the mass media has been liquidated in our country due to the actions that you have focused on [connected with the change of ownership of the NTV television company, and replacements at Itogi magazine and the Segodnya newspaper]?"

"No, I don't think that is the case, unlike Mr. Gusinsky [head of the Media Most holding]. I personally do not identify the preservation of Mr.Gusinsky's empire intact with the maintenance of the freedom of speech in Russia," added Lukin.

He also drew the attention of the European parliament members to the fact that the team of journalists who left NTV with Evgeny Kiselyov now enjoyed the possibility of freely expressing their opinions on another channel; i.e., they had not been silenced."

Based on Interfax reports.

See also:

NTV case