While the conservative Russian Congress of People's Deputies was waging its battle to reduce President Boris Yeltsin's authority, some deputies were crafting a measure to assert control of key media outlets.
The proposal would place state broadcasting and the Russian Itar-Tass news agency under the control of the Supreme Soviet (parliament) in a throwback to the Soviet era, when the media were answerable to the state.Although Congress did not vote on the measure, it showed the extent to which some segments of the legislature want to turn back the clock and rein in the media.
"I think it's a very dangerous path to monopoly because today they're seizing television. Tomorrow if they don't like the newspapers, they'll decide to amend the law on mass media," said Mikhail Poltoranin, a former minister of information and Yeltsin aide who now directs the Federal Information Service.