Russia/The Gazprom-Media/Weekly

RFE/RL: Gazprom-media buys political weekly in St. Petersburg

"The Gazprom-Media holding company has purchased a controlling stake in
the weekly "Peterburgskii Chas pik" for an undisclosed sum,
"Vedomosti" reported on 5 September, quoting the weekly's new general
director, Aleksei Turchenko. An unnamed source at the newspaper told
"Vedomosti" that Gazprom-Media acquired 70 percent of "Chas pik"
shares, while a Gazprom-Media subsidiary called Aura now owns the
other 30 percent. A St. Petersburg-based consultant, Kirill Nikolaev,
told "Vedomosti" that the deal was likely politically motivated."