Crucial Vote On Russia's Ekho Moskvy's Future Canceled

Veteran Ekho Moskvy host Aleksandr Plyushchev will be suspended from the air until mid-January.

Russian radio station Ekho Moskvy says its state-controlled owner has canceled a vote of the broadcaster's board that threatened to remove the station's editor in chief and alter its news coverage.

State-controlled entertainment giant Gazprom Media, the controlling shareholder in the station, canceled the snap November 21 board vote and rescinded its order that veteran Ekho Moskvy host Aleksandr Plyushchev be fired, the broadcaster reported on its website on November 19.

Gazprom Media head Mikhail Lesin had demanded Plyushchev's dismissal after the host tweeted about the death of a son of President Vladimir Putin's chief of staff.

Instead, Plyushchev will be suspended from the air until mid-January, the broadcaster reported.

Ekho Moskvy and longtime editor in chief Aleksei Venediktov have faced repeated pressure from Russian officials over news coverage often at odds with the Kremlin line.