A Russian Media Mystery

Last week Berezovsky admitted that he had purchased Miloslavsky's 15 percent stake in the company. He said he wanted a presence on Kommersant's board--but denied in an interview with NEWSWEEK that he's behind American Capital: "I have no idea who stands behind them." The two young investors backed him up. "We are not a front for anybody," says Joorabchian.

Even before the Kommersant sale, Berezovsky was one of Russia's most powerful media barons. (Another media oligarch, Vladimir Gusinsky, publishes the magazine Itogi in cooperation with NEWSWEEK.) Berezovsky has a large stake in ORT, the most popular national TV channel, and other properties, including a Moscow daily newspaper. He is now finalizing the purchase of Russia's third biggest national TV network. Adding Kommersant to his mix--even at 15 percent--would make him the largest private media owner in the country.

Yakovlev, who did not return six phone calls from NEWSWEEK last week, said in an interview with Kommersant that he simply did a deal with American Capital, a company that he insisted has no links to Berezovsky or anyone else. He chose American Capital, he said, because he wanted Kommersant's shares to "disappear from the market of political influence." But have they? At an economic forum in Salzburg less than a month ago, Berezovsky is said to have openly boasted about his newly won control of Kommersant. Several sources present, Russian and Western, say they heard him. If Kommersant retains its editorial integrity in the next few months, the storm over who controls it may eventually fade away--even if Berezovsky doesn't.

Russia's news media have a heritage of Soviet-style government control and no-holds-barred free enterprise. Key players:

ORT: The only TV network that can reach every Russian village. The government owns 51 percent, and oligarch Boris Berezovsky owns the rest. Critics say it has become his mouthpiece.