'Poodle' Lawsuit Dropped

Nov. 1, 2011

Rock star Vadim Samoilov dropped on Monday his slander lawsuit against music critic Artemy Troitsky, who called Samoilov "a trained poodle" of the Kremlin's propaganda mastermind Vladislav Surkov.

Samoilov, ex-member of local goth rock legends Agata Kristi and an associate of Surkov's, sought 1 million rubles ($33,000) in damages over the comment, made by Troitsky on Ren-TV in January.

But he dropped the lawsuit after a linguistics expert ruled that the "poodle" comment was criticism but not offensive, Troitsky's lawyer told Interfax.

Outspoken Troitsky was earlier separately sued by former police officer Nikolai Khovansky, whom he called "the worst cop of the year" in 2010. The critic was fined 10,000 rubles, but a criminal case against him over the same slight was dropped last week.

(MT)

… we have a small favor to ask.

As you may have heard, The Moscow Times, an independent news source for over 30 years, has been unjustly branded as a "foreign agent" by the Russian government. This blatant attempt to silence our voice is a direct assault on the integrity of journalism and the values we hold dear.

We, the journalists of The Moscow Times, refuse to be silenced. Our commitment to providing accurate and unbiased reporting on Russia remains unshaken. But we need your help to continue our critical mission.

Your support, no matter how small, makes a world of difference. If you can, please support us monthly starting from just 2. It's quick to set up, and you can be confident that you're making a significant impact every month by supporting open, independent journalism. Thank you.

Continue