Mass media security

Russian Editor Who Reported On Vladimir Putin's Circle To Take Study Leave

The editor-in-chief of Russia's RBC media group, whose outlets published disclosures about the commercial interests of people close to President Vladimir Putin, is to leave her job to start a sabbatical four months earlier than planned.

A source close to the media group said the departure of the editor-in-chief, Elizaveta Osetinskaya, may have been brought forward under pressure from Kremlin officials who were displeased with the publications about Putin's inner circle.

A Kremlin spokesman denied the media group or its owners were being subjected to pressure.

Law enforcement officials last week searched the offices of Mikhail Prokhorov, the tycoon who controls RBC. People close to the media group said the raid was linked, at least in part, to official anger at their reporting.