Putin: 'NTV not my problem'

NTV is still bringing home hard realities from Chechnya

As the ownership dispute over Russia's independent NTV channel went into its second week, President Vladimir Putin appeared to wash his hands off the affair.

I don't think I should wade into that mess and clear up what has accumulated over recent years

Russian President Vladimir Putin

In an open letter posted on NTV's website, 129 of the channel's journalists called on the president to "intervene and ensure a legal solution to the conflict".

The letter came after NTV staff, including manager Yevgeny Kiselyov, accused President Putin of masterminding the takeover.

But the Russian leader said he did not see he had a role to play in a dispute which, according to him, centred on a fraud case.

Without naming names, he said that an NTV shareholder and members of the channel's staff had received millions of dollars in questionable ways.

"I don't think I should wade into that mess and clear up what has accumulated over recent years," he said.

The Russian president added that he was against "the establishment of state control" over the channel, saying that "NTV and its professional team must not be lost".

More resignations

In another blow, three more journalists joined other colleagues in leaving the embattled channel.

The correspondents, who had worked on NTV's crime programmes, announced live on air that they were leaving because Mr Kiselev would not "do the manly thing" and resign.

Mr Kiselyov has ignored all attempts to dislodge him

But the remaining staff, perhaps buoyed by an opinion poll showing that Moscow viewers preferred their channel to its state rivals by a wide margin, were in fighting form.

Viktor Shenderovich, NTV's well-known political satirist, attacked Gazprom's media chief Alfred Kokh in an open letter.

He suggested that Mr Kokh, who left the government in 1997 amid accusations of corruption, had done a deal with the authorities to destroy NTV in return for a clean slate to further his political career.

"We are not morons," Mr Shenderovich wrote. "We know what will happen when you assume real power at NTV. When and if you do."

Business as usual

NTV has continued its broadcasts, with correspondents reporting the kind of news and comment often overlooked or ignored on the state channels.

This Chechen woman accused Russia of mass murder

The Itogi currents affairs programme - presented by Mr Kiselyov himself - showed a long report on the situation in the Chechen capital Grozny, in which members of the Russian security forces talked openly about their heavy casualties in a place where they were "picked off like targets".

More unusual still, the report featured a Chechen woman speaking openly to camera to accuse Russia's forces of atrocities.

BBC Monitoring, based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.