Today, Galina Timchenko, the editor-in-chief of Lenta.ru, was fired without any explanation.
It is the most visited and most cited media outlet on the Russian internet. That fact alone is enough to recognize the work of Timchenko and the entire Lenta.ru editorial team as outstanding. To replace Timchenko, oligarch Alexander Mamut, who bought Lenta, appointed Alexei Goreslavsky. You probably know him as the former editor-in-chief of Vzglyad.ru — the Kremlin’s main internet project. A project that failed completely despite its unimaginable budget, because a lying dump is still a lying dump. The internet is not television, after all, and there are more buttons here. Those who followed my election campaign may remember Goreslavsky for the way he and his agency "Agency One" spent budget money on smear campaigns against us, and for creating “powerful PR stunts” for Sobyanin, like this one. The Lenta.ru editorial staff issued a statement to readers, which I cannot help but reprint: To Our Dear Readers from Your Dear Editorial Team Dear readers! Today, March 12, Alexander Mamut, the owner of Afisha-Rambler-SUP, fired Lenta.ru editor-in-chief Galina Timchenko. Alexei Goreslavsky, deputy генерального директора по внешним коммуникациям, has been appointed the new editor-in-chief. Unfortunately, this is not a routine reshuffle, so some explanation is required. We believe this appointment constitutes direct pressure on the Lenta.ru editorial staff. The dismissal of an independent editor-in-chief and the appointment of a controllable person, including one managed directly from Kremlin offices, is already a violation of the media law, which prohibits censorship. Over the past couple of years, the space for free journalism in Russia has shrunk dramatically. Some outlets are run directly from the Kremlin, others through overseers, and still others by editors who are afraid of losing their jobs. Some media outlets have already closed; others will close in the coming months. The trouble is not that we will have nowhere to work. The trouble is that you, it seems, will soon have nothing left to read. We certainly assumed they would come for us too. We believe this is not forever. In any case, dear readers, you should know about it. We hope to see you again soon. Yours, your dear editorial team. Andrei Kozenko, special correspondent Igor Belkin, producer, new media department Timur Karpov, photo editor Nadezhda Vainer, editor, Games section Olga Osipova, photo editor Alexander Ratnikov, editor, Business section Lena Averyanova, editor, From Life section Vladimir Tsybulsky, editor, Russia section Nelli Aleksanyan, managing editor Anna Kozyreva, editor, Former USSR section Denis Dmitriev, analyst Irina Ryabova, editor, Business section Anton Klyuchkin, head of the Russia section Pavel Borisov, editor Tatyana Bortsova (Zverintseva), editor, Russia section Ilya Azar, special correspondent Svetlana Reiter, special correspondent Daniil Turovsky, special correspondent Dmitry Migunov, editor, Business section Darya Eremina, editor, World section Grigory Levchenko, editor Alexander Filimonov, duty editor Konstantin Benyumov, head of the Internet and Media section Dmitry Ivanov, head of text control Svetlana Chistyakova, editor, Science and Technology section Denis Slepov, video special correspondent Mikhail Zelensky, editor, Russia section Pyotr Bologov, head of the Former USSR section Maria Myagkova, head of the Dom.Lenta.ru project Anastasia Khartulari, project manager Viktor Stepanov, editor, Internet and Media section Alexander Ershov, editor, Science and Technology section Valentin Makov, editor, World section Alexander Polivanov, head of the Business section Igor Petrushov, release team editor Maria Novikova, editor, text control department Sergey Kozlovsky, editor, Business section Sasha Zerkaleva, editor, Culture section Dmitry Danilov, editor, Dom.Lenta.ru project Alexei Ponomarev, senior editor Elizaveta Surganova, editor, Internet and Media section Andrei Konyaev, head of the Science and Technology section Vasily Sychev, editor, Science and Technology section Pavel Bednyakov, chief picture editor Anastasia Golovenchenko, head of photo/multimedia service Andrei Melnikov, head of the Sports section Alexander Artemyev, deputy head of the special correspondents department Andrei Kuznetsov, head of the Culture section Yaroslav Zagorets, head of the Motor project Lyudmila Lyagushkina, editor, World section Zaur Abasmirzoev, technical director Ksenia Gokhgut, technical department manager Konstantin Savelyev, lead developer Vsevolod Romashov, developer Alexei Kurepin, developer Alexander Kleymenov, developer Leonid Kalmankin, systems programmer Dmitry Bodunov, system administrator Konstantin German, system administrator Dmitry Kuznetsov, web technologist Egor Firsov, web technologist Alexander Gladkikh, art director Alexander Shirokov, web designer Dmitry Tomilov, deputy editor-in-chief Ivan Kolpakov, head of the special correspondents department Anna Popova, editor, Russia section Ivan Yakovina, editor, World section Kirill Golovastikov, editor, Culture section Alexei Gapeev, duty editor, head of the breaking news block Alexander Amzin, analyst Lena Berezina, head of administration Oksana Mochalova, office manager Pavel Khlyupin, editor Tatyana Ershova, head of the Culture section Sergey Obolonkov, editor Mikhail Tsymbal, editor-in-chief of the Motor project Vlad Klepach, editor, Motor project Igor Kurushin, photo editor Efim Repin, duty editor, Motor project http://lenta.ru/info/posts/statement/