The editor-in-chief of an independent newspaper in the city of Arzamas, some 400 kilometers (250 miles) east of Moscow, has been arrested under suspicion of extorting a local gypsum factory into subscribing to his newspaper.  Colleagues believe that the charges against Alexander Andronyuk and the weekly Arzamasskie Vesti newspaper are politically motivated, the Kasparov.ru online newspaper reports.

“The  editor-in-chief  was  trying to coerce the head of an Arzamas enterprise into concluding a subscription contract with his newspaper in exchange  for  not  disseminating  information compromising his business reputation,” local police told the Interfax news agency.

Andronyuk’s wife Natalya said her husband had travelled to the Dekor-1 gypsum plant on July 1st to work out a subscription deal for 250 copies of the newspaper.  Police arrested him as he arrived to the factory.

Anatoly Chernyagin, Andronyuk’s deputy, said the newspaper had held close business relations with the factory for several years.  ...

Theotherrussia.org provides glimpses into the Russian media, documenting self-censorship, spin, and other inaccuracies.

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TV Channel Pulls Putin Caricature

The 2×2 television channel, which broadcasts primarily animated series, was taking no chances after it had a scare involving its license last fall.  In its latest season of the popular South Park cartoon, the channel has edited out the character representing Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, the Novy Region Information Agency reports.

Putin was shown in a scene receiving a phone call from one of the young characters in the cartoon, asking to help him blast a whale to the moon.  In the sketch, Putin thinks that he is receiving a prank call from US President George W. Bush.  The clip came from the “Free Willzyx” episode first broadcast in 2005, when Putin was the President of Russia.

2×2, which started broadcasting in 2007, faced the threat of license revocation ...