This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Moscow • Russia's parliament has given preliminary approval to a bill limiting foreign ownership in Russian media to 20 percent.
The State Duma voted 434-1 to pass the first reading of the law. The bill can be amended in the second reading, and either adopted or withdrawn in the third.
The bill has been seen as the Kremlin's latest attempt to stifle media freedom. Many of Russia's leading media outlets including the Vedomosti daily and the Russian Forbes magazine have foreign ownership.
The proponents of the bill said it was crucial to introduce the curbs in the view of the "information war" waged on Russia because of the Ukraine crisis