Russian Media Silent on Litvinenko Poisoning

BBC Monitoring reports that in Russia, coverage of the poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko has been confined to “a small number of outlets”.

On reasons for the silence, which has particularly affected Russia’s three main television networks, the journalist and political commentator Yulia Latynina expressed the view that “This is a fairly key milestone, which undoubtedly alters the image of Russia in the outside world."

The lack of television coverage came as no shock to Ekho Moskvy’s editor-in-chief, Alexei Venediktov.

“It’s not at all surprising that there’s silence on television, it’s understandable,” he told listeners to his phone-in programme on Sunday.

The launch of an investigation by British police had led to “confusion” in the Russian authorities, he said.

(Hat tip: LN)