Russian warrant for exiled media baron

Russian authorities raided Mr Gusinksy's offices in June

By Russian affairs analyst, Stephen Dalziel

The Russian authorities have issued an international arrest warrant for the media baron, Vladimir Gusinsky.

A warrant for Mr Gusinsky's arrest was issued three weeks ago, when he failed to turn up at the Prosecutor-General's office for questioning on his business affairs.

But Mr Gusinsky, owner of Russia's largest independent country-wide media group, Media-Most, says the case is politically motivated.

He maintains that at stake is the issue of the freedom of the Russian press under the leadership of the President, Vladimir Putin.

Kremlin upset

Certainly, Mr Gusinsky's media outlets - such as NTV television, the Sevodnya newspaper and Ekho Moskvy Radio - have upset the Kremlin, by their critical reporting on matters such as the war in Chechnya, and their often irreverent portrayal of Mr Putin and other political leaders.

But Mr Putin has continually maintained that he is in favour of a free press and the prosecutor's office say their interest is purely from a legal point of view.

But it is not entirely clear what laws Mr Gusinsky is supposed to have violated, and why his offence is sufficiently serious to call for an international arrest warrant.

Last June, he was arrested and held for three days in connection with alleged fraud in a business deal, when he bought up a state-owned television channel in St Petersburg in 1997. But, after he was released, those charges were dropped. Now they've been resurrected.

Media-Most is in debt to the media arm of the Russian gas giant, Gazprom. But they recently announced a deal, whereby Gazprom-Media will take over a large part of Media-Most, and both sides insisted that the matter was settled.

What is clear is that whilst Mr Gusinsky - who holds Israeli, as well as Russian citizenship - remains abroad, the prosecutor's office will not let the matter rest.