Russia is taking steps backward

Russia under Vladimir Putin seems intent on moving backwards.
The latest proof came Friday when the Duma zipped through legislation that would severely limit the level of foreign ownership in Russian media.
Currently, there are no restrictions on the amount of foreign investment in print media in Russia. As a result, the most aggressive and objective coverage and commentary is coming from publications like Vedemosti, which is owned in part by The Wall Street Journal and The Financial Times of Britain, and The Moscow Times, an English-language paper owned by a Finnish consortium.
All of that would change in 2017 under legislation Putin is expected to sign shortly.
Putin’s regime has been obsessed with rooting out “foreign influences” under the guise of protecting the Motherland from outside agitators. That’s why non-governmental organizations promoting civil society and democracy — funded, admittedly, by Western nations — have become hamstrung. The screws have been tightening since at least 2006.
Now, it’s time to rein in the last of the national independent press. Regional newspapers may try from time to time to chart an independent course, but that’s increasingly rare in Putin’s Russia.
So, who wins and who loses with this latest change?
Putin and his circle of gangster businessmen win in the short term. They’re on the short list of potential buyers for newspapers like Vedemosti and The Moscow Times, and they’ll quickly flex their muscles editorially.
But those same businessmen — and the Russian people — lose in the long run.
The Russian people lose, obviously, because they’ll be deprived independent reporting and independent commentary on events. The businessmen lose because this latest move will further scare away Western capital, those investors who have taken risks in the post-Soviet era and have helped move the country forward.
Those investors have to ask themselves whether the risks have now changed so fundamentally that it’s time to get out.
If the government can suddenly require that foreign investors own no more than 20 percent of any print publication and force divestment of controlling interest at fire sale prices, who is to say that the government won’t do the same thing when it comes to investments in banks or manufacturing?
The game has quickly turned unattractive to any sensible investor, and Russia takes yet another step backwards. —J.R.