Putin hails press freedom but TV ignores protest Tuesday, June 6, 2006
MOSCOW - Reuters
President Vladimir Putin told newspaper executives from around the world on Monday that press freedom was safe in Russia, but protesters gatecrashed the conference and shouted that he was muzzling free speech.
Russia's three national television stations -- which critics often point to as evidence the media has been cowed under Putin -- covered the conference in their daytime news bulletins but made no mention of the protest.
A handful of opposition activists in the audience, dressed in black, jumped to their feet just as Putin was taking his seat on the podium at the World Newspaper Congress in the Kremlin, a Reuters witness said.
Shouting "No to censorship" and "Russia without Putin," they scattered leaflets calling the Russian leader a "cruel and greedy dictator," said a spokesman for their party. They were ejected after about a minute.
Putin went on to make a speech as planned. In it, he said the independent media was flourishing in Russia and rejected claims by some delegates that financial groups linked to the Kremlin were taking control of major outlets.
"Our people made a conscious choice in favor of democracy, and freedom of the press continues to be an essential guarantee that it will continue," Putin said.
The protesters were from the National Bolshevik Party, a radical group led by cult author Eduard Limonov who has served a prison sentence for illegally possessing weapons.
Its mainly young activists specialize in high-profile stunts, often involving abseiling down tall buildings to hang up anti-Putin banners.
"We staged this protest because ... Putin is gradually establishing his personal dictatorship in Russia," said the party spokesman Alexander Averin.
Three young people were detained at the conference and were being held in a police station, Interfax news agency quoted an official with the presidential security service as saying.
The World Association of Newspapers, organizer of the congress, could not be reached for comment on the protest.
Opinion polls show Putin is popular with voters. Though the West accuses him of backsliding on democracy, most Russians say for them the issue is not a major concern.
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