Roskomnadzor has denied the request from the “echo of Moscow” on the exclusion of foreign ownership – Interfax

Moscow. 10 Feb. INTERFAX.RU – does not require Roskomnadzor “echo of Moscow” to exclude foreign ownership, said the press-Secretary of Department Vadim Ampelonskiy.

“we Have no claims to “echo of Moscow” about their foreign ownership. They have a problem with the constituent documents which is of a technical nature,” said Ampelonskiy on Friday, “Interfax”.

He stressed that Roskomnadzor is in close interaction and understanding with lawyers of the station.

Earlier Ampelonskiy told “Interfax”: “We do have sent an information letter to the address of the editorial office of “echo of Moscow” trebovaniem allow the structure of the company in accordance with applicable law, including with regard to foreign capital”.

He stressed that no warning radio stations not handed down.

“We are in close interaction with the CEO, editor-in-chief and lawyers of “echo of Moscow”, and we have full confidence that all violations will be corrected by the radio station as of 15 February,” said Ampelonskiy.

Review of “echo of Moscow”

for his part, chief editor of “echo of Moscow” Alexei Venediktov has previously confirmed to “Interfax”

information about the current situation with the regulator. “We have received from Roskomnadzor’s letter, in which they actually asked to remove from the structure of the radio station foreign ownership”, – said Venediktov.

He recalled that a year ago, at the end of 2015, the “Echo of Moscow” has sent documents to Roskomnadzor, which was notified of the decline to 19.5% in the share of foreign ownership. “The whole year we had everything in order, but now we are actually asked to reduce this percentage to zero,” – said Venediktov.

He said that the “Echo of Moscow” will agree with the regulator’s requirements, fulfill them as soon as you can, and let the law of the foreign state, which is also involved in this situation.

“But we ask Roskomnadzor delay, as in 10 days make to fulfill their demands is simply impossible,” – said Venediktov, noting that it was unable to identify the estimated time delay.

He added that after the conflict will be settled with the Roskomnadzor, will raise a public discussion about the latest version of the media law, which stipulates provisions under which the share of foreign ownership in the Russian media may not exceed 20%.

“And in fact we see that we require zero ownership in this issue”, – said the chief editor of the station.

Amendment of the law On mass media

In Russia from January 1, 2016 came into force amendments to the law “On mass media” that limit the participation of foreigners in the Russian media at 20%.

the Law was adopted by the Parliament on 26 September 2014, 1 October approved by the Federation Council on October 14, signed by the President. In accordance with the amendments, foreign governments, international organizations, foreign legal entities and citizens and Russian legal entities with more than 20% foreign capital may not directly or indirectly control more than 20% of the capital of the Russian media.

Earlier, the media law restriction on foreign participation has been established only for television and radio in the amount of 50%. The new law applies to all media, including print and Internet editions.