New St Petersburg bureau of Ekho Moskvy to be created, Venediktov announces

A new St Petersburg bureau for independent radio station Ekho Moskvy is to be created, the station’s editor-in-chief, Alexei Venedikov, announced yesterday. On Twitter, Venediktov confirmed that Ekho Moskvy’s CEO Mikhail Demin had approved the decision, and that the new office will be headed by Ekho Moskvy journalist Olga Bychkova.

“Between four and five journalists will be working on the new bureau, which will have its own website,” Venediktov told Novaya Gazeta.

The decision to create the new bureau was the result of an unexpected decision to terminate Ekho Moskvy St Petersburg’s broadcasting license earlier this month. Shareholders of the radio station were divided over the appointment of a new general manager for Ekho Moskvy in St Petersburg. While majority shareholders at Ekho Moskvy, who own the licence on the St Petersburg station’s broadcast, wanted Anna Sakharova for general manager, minority shareholders proposed Tatyana Kaglyak, who was elected by a vote. As a result, the majority shareholders decided to terminate the licencing contract for the station’s broadcast in St Petersburg.