Russian magazine issue critical of official confiscated

Jul 14, 2011, 11:03 GMT

Moscow - Authorities in the Russian city St Petersburg on Thursday blocked the distribution of a weekly news magazine that has been critical of an important regional politician.

The Kommersant Vlast in a feature on Valentina Matvienko, governor of the region where St Petersburg is located, harshly criticized her for failing to prepare the territory for the 2010-2011 winter.

The article detailed dozens of cases of people killed by icicles falling from buildings in Russia's second-largest city, along with instances of poor winter road maintenance and failure to clear sidewalks of ice.

Postal officials in the city had been ordered by the Matvienko administration not to deliver the issue to subscribers and newsstands, the newspaper Kommersant reported.

Local printing plant officials and Matvienko spokesmen denied they had taken any action to prevent the magazine from reaching readers.

It was nonetheless unavailable in St Petersburg, but readily on sale in Moscow and other major Russian cities.

Matvienko, is a close confidante of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who like President Dmitry Medvedev was born and raised in St Peterburg.

Medvedev recently proposed Matvienko, 62, take over chairmanship of the Federation Council, the main state agency for supervising Russia's widespread provinces.

Russian law guarantees protection to media making factually-based reports critical of public officials, however, most journalists exercise self-censorship and avoid negative comment on top politicians like Putin and Medvedev.