Putin transferred Norwegian shares in the Prime Print printing houses to the Federal Property Management Agency

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed decree, according to which the Norwegian shares of the Amedia media holding in five Prime Print printing houses in Moscow, Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk, Chelyabinsk and Voronezh are transferred to the temporary management of the Federal Property Management Agency. In April 2022, Amedia Eastern Europe AS left Russia; since April 2023, the Prime Print printing houses in Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Chelyabinsk and Yekaterinburg belonged to the editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta, Dmitry Muratov (recognized as a foreign agent).

Since 1998, Amedia Eastern Europe AS has had six Prime Print printing houses (Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Yekaterinburg, Chelyabinsk, Voronezh and Novosibirsk). After care to a company from Russia, it transferred its share in the Voronezh and Novosibirsk printing houses to minority shareholders. Prime Print in Voronezh went to the co-owner of the Svobodnaya Pressa publishing house, Alexander Lapin. Prime Print in Novosibirsk was first transferred to Shkulev Media Holding, and then to Sovetskaya Sibir JSC.

All shareholder rights of the remaining four printing houses (Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Chelyabinsk and Yekaterinburg) moved on Dmitry Muratov. “Our dialogue with Muratov has been good for a long time, and we are glad that he said yes. We believe that Muratov will be a good manager of a printing enterprise. The agreed solution also helps us protect the original intention of Amedia’s investment in Russia,” said CEO Anders Möller Opdahl at the time.

On September 1, Dmitry Muratov was included in the register of foreign agents. On September 4, the editors of Novaya Gazeta announced that Mr. Muratov would temporarily leave the post of editor-in-chief of the publication during the trial regarding his inclusion in the register. In September 2022, the court revoked the license of Novaya Gazeta and Novaya Rasskaz-Gazeta, as well as the publication’s website. In June of this year, the Prosecutor General’s Office declared Novaya Gazeta Europe undesirable.

Read more in the Kommersant article. “Printed Memories”.

Polina Motyzlevskaya