Gazprom-Media To Change Director At Ekho Moskvy

The state-controlled Russian broadcasting company Gazprom-Media Holding has announced it will change the director at the Ekho Moskvy radio station.

The company's press service said on March 19 that current Ekho Moskvy Director Mikhail Dyomin would be dismissed.

It said he would be replaced by the former general director of the station, Yekaterina Pavlova.

Pavlova confirmed she had received an offer for the position and accepted.

Gazprom-Media is Russia's largest media company, with holdings including NTV, Itogi magazine, and a controlling stake in Ekho Moskvy radio, one of Russia's few remaining platforms for criticism of the Kremlin.

Chief editor and shareholder at Ekho Moskvy Aleksei Venediktov said he was informed there would be a meeting of shareholders on June 15 and the main issue on the agenda would be Dyomin's dismissal.

Venediktov said he would vote against replacing Dyomin and noted Dyomin was the third general director the station has had in the last 18 months.

"I think it's some kind of show," Venediktov said.

Based on reporting by TASS and Interfax