Mikhail Lesin, head of the state-controlled entertainment giant Gazprom-Media, has called for a vote of Ekho Moskvy's board of directors that could determine the future of one of the last independent media outlets in Russia.
The absentee voting by the board of directors, which will take place on November 21, will determine the editor-in-chief of the station, the staff and the format of the broadcasting. Gazprom-Media has a controlling stake in Ekho Moskvy.
The call comes after Lesin ordered the firing of host Aleksandr Plyushchev over an insensitive tweet about the death of the Kremlin chief of staff Sergei Ivanov's son. He has deleted and apologized for the tweet.
Ekho's editor in chief, Aleksei Venediktov, has said that the order is invalid and said that Plyushchev will stay on the job.