Russian MPs Pass Law Limiting Foreign Media Ownership
Russian lawmakers on Friday passed without debate a law limiting foreign ownership of media to 20 percent, threatening some of the country's most respected independent media.
The Duma lower house of parliament rushed through the bill in both the second and third readings, with just two lawmakers voting against.
The law now has to be passed by the upper house, the Federation Council, seen as a rubber-stamping body, and signed into law by President Vladimir Putin.
If implemented, the law will directly affect media including respected business daily Vedomosti, which publishes editorials that are frankly critical of Kremlin policies and is jointly owned by Finnish media group Sanoma Independent Media, Dow Jones and the FT Group.
Sanoma Independent Media also publishes many glossy magazines and the English-language newspaper The Moscow Times.
"Now all media with foreign capital that cover politics and society are seen as a fifth column of saboteurs in the rear," Vedomosti wrote in an editorial on Wednesday.
The law will also affect media including the Russian edition of Forbes magazine, which is published by German house Axel Springer.
The law is due to come into force in 2016.
It prohibits media outlets being funded or run by foreign groups or individuals -- including Russians with dual nationality -- and puts a 20-percent cap on foreign ownership.
Russia currently does not restrict foreign ownership of print and online media, while radio and television can only be a maximum 50 percent foreign owned.
The largest media organizations in Russia are owned by the state or controlled by Putin associates.
The law will lead to see plum media holdings being sold off to buyers who are "authorized by the Kremlin," said Anton Nosik, media director at SUP Media, owner of LiveJournal.
"Since we are talking about regulating a whole large market with turnover in billions of dollars, here naturally there is also a distinct commercial interest as well as the patriotic frenzy."
