According to Gazeta.Ru, in the next few days the independent newspaper Izvestia will be purchased by Gazprom-Media, a subsidiary of the government-owned natural gas monopoly Gazprom. This means that before the new presidential and parliament elections, one of the largest independent media outlets will be controlled by Kremlin; more than that, by Putin personally.

The new chief-editor of Izvestia will be Oleg Kuzin, editor of another Gazprom-owned newspaper, Tribuna. Mr. Kuzin served as a senior member of the Communist Party until the very last minute of its existence, holding executive positions through his career in Leningrad (St. Petersburg), Putin's hometown. Kuzin has been a friend and political ally of the president since the early 1990s.

Izvestia is one of the most popular newspapers along with Moskovsky Komsomoletz and Pravda. The first Izvestia was printed on March 13, 1917; today it’s a daily newspaper with a circulation of 200,000. It is vital for Putin's regime to have this outlet under control for the upcoming election campaign. Earlier, Gazprom-Media purchased 51% shares of the only national independent TV channel NTV.