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Russian journalists are complaining about layoffs, audits and censorship. It seems voices critical of the Kremlin are to be banished from the media before the presidential election.

Ahead of the presidential elections on March 4, it seems that everything in the Russian media revolves around the Kremlin's candidate, Vladimir Putin. On television, in newspapers and on the Internet, he is ubiquitous.

The other four presidential candidates are given far less coverage in the media. Putin announced that he had no time for TV debates with them. The 59-year-old prime minister served two terms as president from 2000-2008 and wants to return to the role once more.

Radio station stifled

Putin puts forward his case on the internet

To keep everything the way Putin likes it, critical media are under increasing pressure. This can be seen, for example, in the moves made against staff at the radio station Ekho Moskvy, which has long been the most critical voice in the country. Some three weeks before the presidential election, the station's main shareholder, Gazprom Media - a subsidiary of state-controlled energy company Gazprom - fired editor-in-chief Alexei Venediktov and three other directors from the station's board of directors.

Venediktov said it was clear the intent was to increase pressure on Ekho Moskvy, so that the station would in future report positively about Putin. The prime minister had recently berated Venediktov using coarse language, accusing the station of failing to report about him in an appropriate manner and of serving US interests.

"It is clear that Gazprom has instructed its people to work flat out before the elections," Alexei Simonov, head of Moscow's Glasnost Defense Foundation, told DW. Gazprom Media has become active in other instances, he said. Of note is the dismissal of four senior managers of the Russian publishing house Kommersant by its owner Alisher Usmanov, who is also Managing Director of Gazprominvestholding, another Gazprom subsidiary.

Authorities target Dozhd TV station

Alexei Venediktov was fired from the board of Ekho Moskvy

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Kremlin turns up the pressure on critical media