One of Russia's longtime leading independent sources of news, which closed last year amid growing pressure from the Kremlin, is now facing the prospect of seeing its brand snatched up by Russian state-controlled media.
Rossia Segodnya, the massive state-run media conglomerate, has formally submitted a request to register the name and logo of Ekho Moskvy, state-run TASS reported on August 10.
Commenting on the development, Aleksei Venediktov, the former chief of Ekho Moskvy, said the name and logo were still registered with Ekho Moskvy, its parent company. However, Venediktov added that he believed that would not stop the authorities from allowing the move.
Rossia Segodnya is headed by Dmitry Kiselyov, whose News of the Week program on state TV is viewed by millions across Russia.
Kiselyov, known for his anti-Western diatribes, has been on the West's sanctions list for years for his role in promoting Kremlin propaganda.
In its filing with the Federal Service of Intellectual Property (Rospatent), Rossia Segodnya lists not only media services as the type of activities for the intended brand, but nonmedia services as well, including the rental of diving equipment and oil-well control systems.
Ekho Moskvy, a media outlet long critical of the Kremlin, announced in March 2022 that it was ending operations amid moves by the Kremlin to restrict its outreach.
The move came after the Prosecutor-General’s Office took the radio station off the air for broadcasting what the authorities deemed information "calling for extremist activities, violence, and premeditated false information" about Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russian authorities have stepped up efforts to silence any independent media.
In March 2022, President Vladimir Putin signed a new law that calls for sentences of up to 15 years in prison for people who "deliberately distribute false news" about the Russian military.
Several Russian media outlets have chosen to suspend operations rather than face heavy restrictions on what they can report. The Kremlin has also blocked multiple foreign news outlets.
Ekho Moskvy first aired on August 22, 1990, in Moscow. Before the war with Ukraine, the radio station was taken off the air only once, during the failed coup by Soviet hard-liners in August 1991.