Foreign media rush to relinquish Russian assets

A new Russian law limiting foreign ownership of media companies has upended the sector, forcing companies to scramble to comply and throwing into doubt the fate of TV channels, glossy mags and news dailies. Adopted swiftly in an atmosphere of increased distrust of the West fueled by the Ukraine crisis, the law signed by President Vladimir Putin last October orders media companies to have no more than 20 percent of foreign ownership as of Jan. 1, 2016. The legislation was allegedly needed to prevent "foreign meddling" and its patriotic undertones are forcing international media groups to relinquish Russian assets by the end of the year or leave the once-booming market altogether.

German publishing giant Axel Springer announced last week that it had sold all of its Russian assets including GEO, OK! and the Russian version of Forbes, to local publisher Alexander Fedotov.

The owner the Bild tabloid, Germany's most-read newspaper, said it has to leave Russia because being limited to a minority stake was "not acceptable." "When we entered the Russian market [in 2004], we believed in the further economic development and liberalization of the country," said Ralph Buechi, president of Ringier Axel Springer Media AG, Bild's owner, in a statement last week. "We regret that we now have to leave." Finland's Sanoma media group sold its 33 percent stake in Vedomosti business daily in April to Russian businessman Demyan Kudryavtsev. The newspaper is one of Russia's few remaining independent publications with op-eds frequently critical of the government's policies. The fate of the remaining shares in Vedomosti, which are owned by the Financial Times and The Wall Street Journal, is yet to be determined.

The legislation has sparked fears that the independent and liberal-leaning Forbes and Vedomosti publications, as well the Ekho Moskvy radio station, could be stifled and face increasing pressure to tow the Kremlin's line.