Kremlin downplays financial problems
Last week, the RTS stock exchange suffered its worst trading day on record, plunging 19 percent. The markets were hit after oil prices — the backbone of Russia’s economy — slid heavily amid mounting concerns over the global economic meltdown. But in Russia, it didn’t even make the evening news on the three state-controlled channels. Instead, they aired a meeting between President Dmitry Medvedev and one of the country’s richest billionaires, Mikhail Fridman, in which the two discussed the investment opportunities created by the global crisis. Vladimir Varfolomeyev, first deputy editor at Ekho Moskvy radio, wrote in his blog that the Kremlin recently sent an order to all broadcasters banning the words “collapse” and “crisis.” The word “fall,” the memo said, should be substituted with “decline.” His blog promptly went down. Meanwhile, a memo circulated at the state-run ITAR-Tass news agency reportedly advised reporters not to publish “provocative reports that can cause panic.” “We’re requesting you to STOP covering queues at banks and a shortage of banking funds,” said the memo, circulated by several respected bloggers. Many newspapers, which operate under more liberal constraints, have carried reports of depositors switching their savings from less-secure private to state-owned banks, while noting some smaller lenders have frozen early withdrawals of accounts.
- What Crisis? Kremlin downplays financial woes - Yahoo! News
1 year ago