“We are journalists and not street agitators, but in the present dire circumstances we had no option but to appeal to you,” said Mr Kiselyov. “We will not let you down.”Last Tuesday the state-run gas giant Gazprom, which controls just over half the network’s shares, engineered a boardroom coup and fired Mr Kiselyov and other top NTV managers. About 400 journalists barred the doors of their studios and refused to accept the new regime. Despite at least one high-profile defection, several of the familiar TV presenters and reporters insisted that their solidarity and determination to resist the takeover were undiminished.Yesterday’s rally was one of the largest political demonstrations that post-Soviet Moscow has seen, and the first not to be dominated by fist-shaking pro-Communist pensioners protesting against market reforms.

This crowd was overwhelmingly young, good-natured and liberal ­ seemingly the very people President Vladimir Putin depends upon to support his reforms.”After today, Putin can’t pretend there is no problem with NTV,” said Maria Rejkina, a 20-year-old student. “This is about the most basic principle: will we have freedom in Russia or not?” Experts agree that behind the business manoeuvres, Mr Putin is orchestrating events in order to quash the last independent and critical television news outlet in Russia.”We are witnessing the final stage of the state monopolisation of the media in Russia,” said Pavel Gutionov, secretary of the 70,000-member Union of Russian Journalists, which organised the meeting. “The authorities want to stifle all critical voices and ensure that only official information goes into the formation of public opinion Therefore, NTV is the last bastion of Russia’s free media. As it goes, so goes the country.”The Kremlin has denied any involvement in the attempted takeover. Gazprom’s management insists its actions are aimed only at settling NTV’s troubled finances and putting it on a sound business footing.The conflict has been brewing for over a year as Gazprom has manoeuvred, with the aid of Russian police and courts, to seize control of Media Most, NTV’s parent company. The moves have included two arrests of the NTV founder Vladimir Gusinsky ­ presently awaiting extradition from Spain on Russian charges of fraud ­ and no fewer than 27 police raids on Media Most’s Moscow headquarters.The key issue is a disputed 19 per cent stake, representing the balance of power in Media Most, which Mr Gusinsky put up as collateral for a $262m loan guaranteed by Gazprom three years ago. Declaring Media Most in default of the debt ­ though it only comes due in June ­ Gazprom has tried, but failed, to seize control of the stake through courts in Moscow, London and Gibraltar.Media Most’s shares have been frozen pending resolution of the dispute, but experts say Gazprom has tired of the protracted legal battle and decided to act in haste last week to forestall a bid by Mr Turner to save the network’s independence..

Putting weeks of civil unrest and political scandals behind him, Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez has savoured a weekend on the international stage. Putting weeks of civil unrest and political scandals behind him, Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez has savoured a weekend on the international stage.He has played host to his Mexican and Colombian counterparts in an effort to revive a moribund trade bloc called the Group of Three. The summit is just the sort the nationalist Chavez enjoys most: an opportunity for the three Latin American countries to strengthen ties to offset US dominance during the April 20–22 Summit of the Americas in Quebec City. Mexico’s Vicente Fox and Colombia’s Andres Pastrana arrived in Caracas to full military honors, cheering Venezuelans and characteristic bear hugs from a grinning Chavez. The G–3 was created in 1995 with the goal of establishing a free trade zone among the three countries, with a combined population of 150 million.

Those efforts fizzled after Mexico and Venezuela suffered crises that threatened their banking sectors. Still, trade among the three nations rose by 50 per cent since 1995, reaching $3.2 billion last year. For Chavez, the summit is a chance to trumpet his vision of a unified Latin America – an objective he says is based on the dashed dreams of 18th–century South American independence hero Simon Bolivar. Borrowing one of Bolivar’s most famous quotes during the G–3 inaugural ceremony, Chavez said: “I wish more than anyone else to see the greatest nation in the world formed in Latin America, less for its size and riches than for its liberty and freedom.” The leftist firebrand wants to recruit Mexico and Colombia behind his campaign to strengthen Latin American trade blocs before creating the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas, or FTAA, which would create a single dlrs 1.3 trillion market from Alaska to Argentina. On Saturday, negotiators from the 34 countries meeting in Buenos Aires, Argentina, said they have agreed to a timetable for completing a FTAA in January 2005 and launching it by December of that year.