Kommersant (Russian: Коммерса́нтъ, IPA: [kəmʲɪrˈsant], The Businessman) is a commerce-oriented newspaper published in Russia. As of 2005^[update], the circulation was 131,000.

History[link]

The newspaper was initially published in 1909, and it was closed down following the Bolshevik seizure of power and the introduction of censorship in 1917.

In 1990, with the onset of press freedom in Russia, Kommersant was re-established under the ownership of businessman and publicist Vladimir Yakovlev.^[1]

To make the point that the publication had outlasted the Soviet regime, "Kommersant" is spelled in Russian with a terminal hard sign (ъ) – a letter that is silent at the end of a word in modern Russian, and was thus abolished by the post-revolution Russian spelling reform. This is played up in the Kommersant logo, which features a script hard sign at the end of somewhat more formal font.

In 1997, autos-to-Aeroflot mogul Boris Berezovsky – a member of the former President Boris Yeltsin's 'family'^[2] – bought the Kommersant publishing house, which included Kommersant-daily, two serious weekly magazines (the political Kommersant-vlast (literally 'Power') and the financial Kommersant-dengi ('Money') – as well as entertainment magazines Domovoi and Avtopilot and Molotok, a teen magazine, which later incurred the authorities' wrath.^[3]

Berezovsky sacked Kommersant's director-general, Andrei Vassiliev, and editor-in-chief, Alexander Stukalin, on 14 July 2005^[4] in a move widely seen as preparation for the 2008 Russian presidential elections.

In January 2005, Kommersant published blank pages as a protest at a court ruling ordering it to publish a denial of a story about a crisis at Alfa Bank. The sole article in the paper was this one, published upside down, on the front page. The headline of the article was "Full Plaintiff" (полный истец) which has little meaning, but rhymes with a Russian swear word, meaning "complete disaster" (полный пиздец).^[5] The English version of the article was headed "Alfa-d Up".^[6]

Berezovsky sold the Kommersant publishing house to an old friend and business partner, Georgian fruit canner and opposition television station owner Badri Patarkatsishvili, who was already chairman of the Kommersant company's board.^[7] In August 2006, Patarkatsishvili sold his 100% stake in the Kommersant publishing house to Alisher Usmanov,^[8] head of Gazprom's Gazprominvestholding subsidiary.

After clashing with Usmanov, Kommersant editor-in-chief Vladislav Borodulin quit.^[9] "[Borodulin’s] decision to resign wasn't forced, but evidently they expressed different views on how the publishing house should be developed," said the group's commercial director. Andrei Vasilyev, appointed for a second stint at the helm of the daily – after a long run from 1999 to 2005– said Kommersant-daily had no intention of following any imposed policy, and added that the edition would carry articles that might not please the owner.^[10]

As of 9 December 2008 (2008 -12-09)^[update] no new articles have been added to the English version of the website. Since February 2009 Kommersant newspaper is printed and distributed in the United Kingdom.^[11]

Court cases[link]

In January 2000, Kommersant was found guilty of libel against Russian entrepreneur Alex Konanykhin and ordered to pay compensation of US$3,000,000.^[12][13]

In May 2009, a Russian MP and prominent businessman Oleg Mikheyev sued the Kommersant for $217 million, claiming that one of the newspaper's articles "spoiled of his bank so badly it had to be sold at disadvantageous price". But judicial proceeding was cancelled by the court because of wrong jurisdiction.^[14]

See also[link]

	Russia portal
	Journalism portal

• Ivan Safronov

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Kommersant

• KommersantЪ, English version online
• BBC news reporting on Kommersant's protest
• Photo gallery celebrating Kommersant's 15th anniversary
• Story in the St. Petersburg Times about the sale of Kommersant

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Oleg Kashin in Novosibirsk, 2010

Oleg Kashin (Russian: Олег Владимирович Кашин; b. June 17, 1980, in Kaliningrad, Soviet Union) is a former seaman and a prominent Russian journalist.^[1]

Career[link]

Kashin graduated from the Baltic State Fishing Fleet Academy with a degree in sea navigation in 2001. While studying, he wrote for Komsomolskaya Pravda in Kaliningrad where he expressed rather sharp views. He continued to work for that newspaper up to 2003, specializing on exclusive interviews and special reports,^[2] then moved to Moscow and started working as a journalist for Komsomolskaya Pravda in Moscow. After a while he left the newspaper, became a staff writer at Kommersant and became the leading Russian journalist covering youth political movements, ranging broadly from NBP to Nashi. He left Kommersant in June 2005, dissatisfied with the dismissal of the director-general Andrei Vassiliev.^[2] After leaving Kommersant, he worked for various media including Russian Magazine, Big City, Limonka, Izvestia, Your Day, Globalrus, Re:action, Expert and Vzglyad in Moscow.

Kashin reported on a number of force majeure events, including the death of Maskhadov, the destruction of hens infected with avian influenza in Novosibirsk Oblast and the burial of rescuers who died during the Beslan school hostage crisis. He was detained by militia and beaten several times while fulfilling his journalist duties.^[1] He considered the political situation in Russia to be poor as there were many people sharing liberal values but no 'normal' right party nor any slightly 'left' social-democratic party, which he saw as a consequence of the surge of PR in Russia. When asked to give an estimate of the Russian authorities, Kashin said it was difficult because they are not uniform.^[2] In a 2006 interview, Kashin said, "Hopefully, the last year forced all our people in the Kremlin to realize that if they would remain swines, they will be swept by 'orange surge'.^[2] Kashin said of the Russian authorities and media that there was freedom of speech but on the other side, media are allowed to "stick to the most base instincts of audience to enhance ratings, in exchange for political loyalty."^[2] He said that the Russian authorities are self-confident and "cease to think that there is such thing as media between authorities and society", an erroneous position that arose from the servient role of the media during the 1999 and 1996 elections or even during Perestroika,^{[citation needed][3]} and believes that the future of Russia is in need of energetic leadership.^[2]

In 2007 Kashin became a regular author and a deputy editor of the Russian Life magazine.^[4] In 2009, Kashin returned to Kommersant as a special correspondent.^[5]

Political activism[link]

On October 6, 2006 Oleg Kashin published the article "Brightness and expression of virtual GULAG" viewing controversy about the site "The Chronicles of Hell",^[6] in which he drew the conclusion that Russian liberal mindset allows the "lie for the profits of the deal", illustrating his claim with the words said by Russian journalist Andrei Babitsky in December 1999 about Chechen fighters cutting throats of Russian soldiers before cameras: "just in that way they are trying to make the war more expressive, visible, bright".^[7][8]

Kashin in the article devoted to the murder of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya on October 9, 2006, called Politkovskaya "Newsmaker, rather than a journalist, moreover, newsmaker of a strange kind, God's fool, standing in one row with Valeriya Novodvorskaya^[9] and Viktor Anpilov." Kashin made a point that in modern Russia "there is no such horrid truth, for which a journalist can be killed", because, according to Kashin, critique makes no impression on authorities: they just do not notice it.^[10]

Considering case of Andrey Sychev, which caused dire resonance in Russian society (in which a young conscript lost his legs and genitalia due to disease triggered by dedovschina), and made the negative imprint on reputation of the contemporary Minister of Defense Sergey Ivanov, Oleg Kashin made a point that the case was largely fabricated:

"The only proven episode... is that Sychev squatted for a while in front of now imprisoned junior sergeant Sivyakov.... All the other stuff was thought up by the chairman of Chelyabinsk Committee of Soldiers Mothers Lydmila Zinchenko, who, after giving a dozen of interviews to liberal media now cowardly conceals from investigators."^[11]

2010 attack[link]

Pickets near Militia Headquarters, 38 Petrovka St., Moscow to demand an investigation into the attack on Oleg Kashin

On November 6, 2010, Kashin was assaulted by unknown attackers near his home in Moscow.^[12] He was hospitalized with several fractures.^[13] Police are treating the attack as attempted murder.^[14] President Medvedev has said that the assailants "must be found and punished".^[14] Prior to the attack Kashin had been reporting on the proposal to build a highway through the Khimki forest near Moscow.^[14] His reporting covering youth political movements and political protests had also prompted aggressive responses from many pro-Kremlin groups, including the Young Guard of United Russia, a youth group associated with the United Russia political party, chaired by Vladimir Putin.^[15]

References and notes[link]

External links[link]

• Oleg Kashin's blog in LiveJournal
• Kremlin Youth Encourage 'Us' to Get 'Them'
• Sticks and stones: the blogs of Oleg Kashin, feature on Kashin
• Analysis: Walking With Putin, Radio Free Europe.
• Nashi Beats Yabloko Leader, St Petersburg Times.