Russian Tycoon Is Charged With Embezzlement and Freed

Russian media mogul Vladimir A. Gusinsky was freed from the Butyrskaya prison here late Friday after being charged with embezzlement and signing a pledge not to leave town.

Shortly afterward, Gusinsky, head of Russia’s largest independent media company, Media-Most, arrived at the headquarters of the firm looking happy and relieved.

The normally talkative chief executive said only a few words, telecast live on Media-Most’s national television network, NTV. His release at 10 p.m. clearly came as a surprise to Gusinsky, whose lawyers were told earlier that he would be held at least over the weekend.

“I just want to extend my thanks to all those who supported me. I won’t name them all because air time is limited. I’m grateful to them all, first of all to journalists, both Russian and foreign,” he said before entering the building.

Gusinsky had been held for three days before charges were brought against him. After Russian President Vladimir V. Putin described Gusinsky’s arrest as excessive Thursday, it was expected that the tycoon would be released Friday--until his lawyers announced Friday afternoon that investigators had refused to free him.

Inside the Media-Most building, members of the staff cheered and clapped as their boss walked in.

A spokesman, Dmitri Ostalsky, said the staff was overjoyed.

“The atmosphere is jubilant, and moods are really soaring here,” he said breathlessly. “We don’t know what played the crucial role in his release tonight. We think it’s public opinion.”

Gusinsky’s arrest and confinement Tuesday alarmed advocates of a free press and sent tremors through the Russian business community.

His detention was seen by many as a move to bring to heel the major independent network in Russia, which often airs reports critical of the Kremlin.

U.S. officials expressed alarm about the arrest and its implications for freedom of the press.

Gusinsky is accused of stealing $10 million from a state company, Russkoye Video, during its privatization in 1997. If convicted, he could face up to 10 years’ imprisonment.

Earlier Friday, at a news conference of Media-Most on-air personalities and editors, Alexei Venediktov, editor in chief of Echo of Moscow radio, asserted that top Kremlin figures had often joked about putting the oligarch behind bars.

Venediktov, a respected journalist and analyst, said the Kremlin had relayed warnings and threats to Media-Most leaders through him.

“In the course of this year, I have been a kind of communicator with the Kremlin. I met with its representatives and passed on their messages. They often joked that Gusinsky will be put in prison,” he said.

On June 4, Venediktov interviewed President Clinton on Echo of Moscow during the president’s trip to Russia. Clinton’s decision to appear with him was seen here as supporting Media-Most, whose NTV is the country’s only national independent network.

But Venediktov said a deputy chief of Kremlin staff had told him after the interview that Gusinsky could not hide behind Clinton.

Venediktov said one Kremlin figure had warned him that the administration was taking a tougher line than in the past, saying: “I’m not Chubais. You won’t beat me.”

Anatoly B. Chubais, a chief of the presidential administration under former President Boris N. Yeltsin and now head of Russia’s national power utility, UES, is perceived as a more moderate figure than Alexander S. Voloshin, the present chief of the administration.

Venediktov did not name the figure who made the comment but implied that it was Voloshin.

Venediktov also claimed that the Kremlin, trying to bleed Media-Most of its talent, had promised him the post of government minister if he left the network.

Yevgeny Kiselev, general director of NTV, conveyed the air of despair and anger among Media-Most staff when he accused the Kremlin of holding Gusinsky as a hostage.

“Gusinsky was taken hostage to make us silent: ‘We will release Gusinsky, but you must shut up.’ This will not happen,” he declared defiantly.

“We receive all kinds of messages and suggestions from the Kremlin which we very often view as disguised threats and blackmail. Among them is the intention to replace the owner [of Media-Most, Gusinsky]. It is clear that the plan is to establish financial and political control over NTV, replace its leadership and turn NTV into an empty shell,” Kiselev said, voicing fears that the government could try to bankrupt the company.