Kremlin forces Newspaper to shut down

[DBAHO]

Hmmm;

 

A NEWSPAPER that defied the Kremlin by reporting that Russian President Vladimir Putin was planning to marry an Olympic gold medal-winning rhythmic gymnast half his age has been shut down.

 

The closure of Moskovski Korrespondent, whose editor Grigori Nekhoroshev was forced to resign, was a sharp reminder of the perils of invoking Kremlin displeasure.

 

Rumours of a romance between Mr Putin, 55, and Alina Kabayeva, 24, who is also an MP in his party, have been circulating in Moscow for months, but until last week no one had dared to print them. See pictures of gymnast Alina Kabayeva.

 

The paper admitted there was no factual basis for its claim that Mr Putin had already divorced Ludmilla, 50, his wife of 24 years, and would marry Ms Kabayeva in June, after standing down as president.

 

It cited information from a party planner who claimed to be bidding to stage the reception.

 

Both Mr Putin and Ms Kabayeva denied the report, which was followed up by European newspapers but ignored by Russia's media, which do not delve into the private lives of politicians.

 

"I thought we should run the story to help break the taboo," said Nekhoroshev.

 

He paid a swift penalty for his daring: the paper, owned by Alexander Lebedev, the billionaire tycoon, ceased publication immediately.

 

Its parent firm blamed "costs" and "conceptual disagreements with the newsroom" but insisted in a statement that "this has nothing to do with politics and is solely a business decision".

 

The closure came a few hours after Mr Putin had said during a visit to Sardinia that there was not a word of truth in the story and derided the "snotty noses and erotic fantasies" of the journalists concerned.

 

So protective is the President of his private life that the Russian public has not seen his daughters since he came to power eight years ago.

[FlaSoxxJim]

When asked why 55-year-old Putin would consider marrying Kabayeva, he promptly answered, "Because she's 24 and she can do THIS!!"

 

[Texsox]

Obviously they had a liberal bias and needed to be shut down. That's how you handle this bias in the media

 

 

j/k

[NUKE_CLEVELAND]

Obviously they had a liberal bias and needed to be shut down. That's how you handle this bias in the media

 

 

j/k

 

 

That's the Soviet Style way of handling media bias.

[DBAHO]

When asked why 55-year-old Putin would consider marrying Kabayeva, he promptly answered, "Because she's 24 and she can do THIS!!"

 

Putin's obviously seen the Seinfeld epsiode where Jerry dates the Gymnist then.

[FlaSoxxJim]

Putin's obviously seen the Seinfeld epsiode where Jerry dates the Gymnist then.

 

 

Yes, but he's no comedian.

[HuskyCaucasian]

Remember, Bush said he looked into Putins eyes and saw his soul and he liked it.

[southsideirish71]

[

 

 

YES!!! Gee I wonder what he likes about her.

 

 

 

Edited April 21, 2008 by southsideirish71

[mr_genius]

That's the Soviet Style way of handling media bias.

 

 

"Or, as I like to call it, The Fairness Doctrine".