Ekho Moskvy editor-in-chief says Board of Directors terminates his contract ahead of time

MOSCOW. March 5 (Interfax) - PJSC Ekho Moskvy, a unit of the Gazprom Media Holding, has decided to terminate the labor contract of Ekho Moskvy Radio Editor-in-Chief Alexei Venediktov.

"The Board of Directors of PJSC Ekho Moskvy decided at today's meeting by a majority of votes to terminate my contract two years before its expiry date," Venediktov told Interfax.

He said he would now focus on the Diletant (Amateur) historical project.

"This is it. I am free," Venediktov said on Telegram.

He told Interfax he had served as the Ekho Moskvy editor-in-chief for exactly 24 years.

"I will be developing my historical project, the Diletant Magazine, shop.diletant.ru, and the Dilenant YouTube channel. I will need journalists to do that," Venediktov said.

The Ekho Moskvy radio was pulled off air and its website was blocked, just like the website of TV Rain (designated as a foreign-agent media outlet by the Russian Justice Ministry), at 9 p.m. on March 1. The Prosecutor General's Office accused both media outlets of disseminating fake information about the situation in Ukraine and of making calls for extremism.

Ekho Moskvy and TV Rain said they would challenge the decision of the Prosecutor General's Office in court and denied any wrongdoing.

The Board of Directors of PJSC Ekho Moskvy decided on March 3 to shut down the radio station and its website. Venediktov told Interfax back then that minority shareholders would challenge the decision of the Board of Directors.

Venediktov said on March 4 that the Moscow Property Department was terminating the lease agreement for the premises occupied by the Ekho Moskvy office and Internet providers had cut it off from service. All accounts of Ekho Moskvy, its website and YouTube channel were scrapped. PJSC Ekho Moskvy will keep the radio station's archives, Venediktov said. He said he did not know how the company might use it.

Ekho Moskvy is part of the Gazprom Media Holding. The radio station was on the air since August 22, 1990. It was formally pulled off the air in August 1991 on the orders from the State Committee on the State of Emergency (GKChP), yet the station managed to go on air again.