ST PETERSBURG, Russia - Thousands of supporters of the independent NTV television channel massed in Russia's second city on Sunday, backing what the station's journalists call a fight against the Kremlin to save free media.
Local police said 4,000 people thronged St Petersburg's central Troitskaya Square, waving placards and Russian flags, a day after a rally in Moscow in support of NTV's stand against last week's boardroom coup by state-dominated gas giant Gazprom.
The head of Gazprom's media arm said his firm would reply on Tuesday to an offer by CNN founder Ted Turner to buy into the station, but a final deal could take months.
On April 3, Gazprom replaced the board at NTV, Russia's only independent nationwide television network, ousting founder Vladimir Gusinsky and replacing managing director Yevgeny Kiselyov with an American banker.
The following day, Turner announced he had struck a deal to buy an NTV stake from Gusinsky, but said he could ensure its independence only if he reaches a deal with Gazprom as well.
In St Petersburg, people held posters declaring "No TV without NTV!" and "We won't give NTV to Putin!," denouncing what the station's reporters say is President Vladimir Putin's leading role in a crackdown on independent media.
Close to the cruiser Aurora, whose salvo marked the start of the Bolsheviks' October 1917 revolution, liberal politicians mounted a modified truck to address the crowd.
"What they are doing to NTV is (the start of) the road to repression," said parliamentary deputy Sergei Popov. "But we will not go down that road," he told the cheering crowd.
WAY OF THINKING
The only sign of ill-temper in the crowd came when police closed a metro station close to the rally, saying the move was necessary to guarantee public safety.
"For us, it is important that NTV is not just an information provider but expresses our way of thinking, and in this way it has become our political leader," said politician Igor Artemyev, from the Yabloko party, as the crowd cried "Freedom! Freedom!"
The protest came a day after the protest outside the station's Moscow studio drew more than 10,000 supporters. The protests, along with another a week ago, have been the largest political demonstrations of Putin's presidency.
But resignations of top commentator Leonid Parfyonov and popular presenter Tatyana Mitkova on Saturday were the first serious signs of cracks in the station's ranks. In a bitter open letter, Parfyonov accused the NTV's leaders of using the rest of the journalists as "cannon fodder" in their campaign.
Gazprom and the state media accuse NTV of stoking public hysteria in what they call a straightforward business dispute. RTR state television commentator Nikolai Svanidze said NTV's leaders were behaving like the heads of a "religious sect."
Gazprom insists it wants only to recover loans it guaranteed on Guzinsky's behalf. Gusinsky is now in Spain fighting extradition to Russia on fraud charges.
Alexander Kokh, head of Gazprom's media arm, told RTR his firm was studying a proposal Turner had made last week.
"Our lawyers will give their answer on Tuesday," he said, but added: "After two or three months we will be able to say whether we have reached a deal or not."
TWO PREVIOUS OFFERS FROM TURNER
Kokh said Turner had made two previous offers. Gazprom had agreed to the first offer, which would have stripped Gusinsky of all shares and given no single shareholder control of NTV, but had rejected the second, which would have allowed Gusinsky to keep a stake and put Turner in control.
Kokh said Turner's latest offer was "more like the first proposal than the second," but gave no further details. He also said Turner was not committed to buying shares from Gusinsky unless his deal with Gazprom succeeds.
Industry sources familiar with the talks say Turner's camp wants a deal with Gazprom as soon as possible, with an eye to the U.S. magnate clinching about 30 percent of the group.
At present, Gusinsky owns 49 percent of NTV and Gazprom owns 46 percent. But the gas company says it controls the station because Gusinsky's share includes a 19 percent stake that was frozen by a court due to outstanding debts to Gazprom.
14:15 04-08-01
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