At a press conference, Russian President Vladimir Putin was told about the ex-editor-in-chief of the Batay newspaper Vperyod, Elena Pivovarova, who was fired without explanation. The head of state promised to investigate and involve the regional governor in this. The journalist, according to media reports, is suspected of involvement in the embezzlement of 20 million rubles. The department of the ICR in the Rostov region confirmed that the case against Pivovarova was initiated. The journalist herself, in an interview with the Daily Storm, admitted that she was threatened with initiating a case, but she is hearing about the fact that it is already in production for the first time.
“After my dismissal, there were strange checks, but they didn’t call me anywhere, none of the security officials contacted me. Never. Not a single question was asked. But they threatened me that they would start a case, and they pressed my accountant. On the recordings from our video cameras, everything was recorded, as they said that criminal cases had already been opened against all of us, although no one even introduced themselves,”Pivovarova said.
“I turned to the Prosecutor General's Office and the FSB sometime in early December. Also, with all the documents, I filed a complaint with the regional FSB, the Investigative Committee and the prosecutor's office. Confirmation that they took my documents, there is … The Governor [of the Rostov region Vasily Golubev] called me somewhere on November 20 and promised to figure it out,”she added.
The journalist noted that the editor-in-chief of the newspaper "Nashe Vremya" Vera Yuzhanskaya, who told Putin about Pivovarova's dismissal, was threatened with consequences if she defended Pivovarova. The ex-editor-in-chief of the Vperyod newspaper said that her dismissal was connected with publications against officials, as well as plans to sell the editorial office.
“There is a very complicated story, it comes down to the financial issue. They fired me because the editorial office was being sold, and they started to put pressure on me to stop barking. According to the official version, I was fired because I allegedly accumulated accrued debts, although they were current. Teeth ache from this lie. They call me and ask: did you really steal 20 million rubles? This is how I answer them: yes, I am sitting in the Maldives, and not in the lousy Bataysk of the Rostov region. It's funny even to hear it,”said Elena Pivovarova.
“Our lawyers saw that according to the documents they should have given us the editorial office and the land, but in the end they didn’t give us anything. And they conveyed through tenths of a hand that if I stop twitching, then everything against me will stop. But I have already submitted an application to the court,”Pivovarova clarified.
In the regional department of the TFR, in an interview with the Daily Storm, they said that a criminal case had been opened against Pivovarova. “The criminal case was initiated by the police, they are investigating or investigating. This has nothing to do with the TFR. From our side, as far as is known, no checks were carried out,”said the Investigative Department of the TFR in the Rostov Region.
The prosecutor's office declined to comment on this situation. When asked whether Pivovarova had contacted them, the department replied: "No."
The head of the press service of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Rostov Region, regarding the situation with Pivovarova, said the following: "We have nothing to do with this situation." But when asked whether this means that the case against the journalist has not been initiated, he replied: “I did not say that there was no case. I said that we have nothing to do with this."
In November, Elena Pivovarova, editor-in-chief of the Batay newspaper Vperyod, was fired without explanation. Searches took place in the building of the newspaper, during which documents, equipment and other things were taken away. According to the preliminary version, which was published by local media (for example, the Yuzhnaya Novosti news agency), Pivovarova is suspected of being involved in the embezzlement of more than 20 million rubles and the theft of property of the editorial office of the municipal newspaper.
Telegram-channel Rostov_com noted that a criminal case on financial manipulation would be initiated against the journalist. The head of the regional Union of Journalists of Russia Vera Yuzhanskaya, the editorial staff and many others spoke in her defense.
On December 17, Vera Yuzhanskaya, editor-in-chief of the newspaper Nashe Vremya, asked Putin to investigate the situation with Pivovarova. At the same time, according to her, the Batai edition "Vperyod" entered the top 10 best newspapers in Russia.
“In early November, the owner of the newspaper fired the editor-in-chief without giving any reason. After the editor was fired, the authors of this decision sent a check there and seized the hard drives. Certain media outlets started throwing mud at the editor. How do you predict the end of this story? We will not build any civil society without normal work of the media,”Yuzhanskaya said.
Putin was interested in this problem, and he promised to deal with it. “I agree - we cannot build a civil society without normal media work. The live press is a part of civil society. I am not familiar with the activities of this editor, but I believe your assessment. We understand that the structures that manage the property own the property on behalf of the state. But they shouldn't deal with content, content,”he replied.
The head of state also promised to address this issue to the governor of the Rostov region. If he is unable to resolve the situation, then Putin will "help" him with this.
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