Russia: major liberal newspaper threatened with sale

The Guardian reports that a spat between the editor-in-chief of the Moskovskiye Novosti (Moscow News), a well established liberal paper, and it's largest shareholder, Leonid Nevzlin, caused Mr. Nevzlin to threaten selling the paper. The spat stemmed from firings of senior staff by the aforementioned editor, Yevgeny Kiselyov, who neglected to inform company shareholder. Fears were raised that the paper could be bought by a company with ties to the Kremlin. But Mr. Nevzlin, who is wanted by the Russian government on fraud charges and has used the paper as an opposing voice to the administration, has promised that if he does sell the paper, it will only go to a "buyer who will pledge to continue defending freedom of the press."

Source: The Guardian (registration required)