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President Boris Yeltsin on Thursday blasted the press bill passed by the State Duma as a "hidden form of political censorship."
The bill, which sets up a federal foundation to distribute subsidies to the press and control state-owned printing presses, has been condemned by many newspaper editors as well as by chief of the Press Committee Sergei Gryzunov.
"This law ... poses a threat to the main prize of Russian democracy -- freedom of speech," said an unusually strongly worded statement issued by Yeltsin's press office. "As a guarantor of the constitution and of citizens' democratic rights I declare that I cannot allow infringements on the freedom of speech and the freedom of the press," Yeltsin's statement, quoted by ITAR-TASS, said.
Without the president's approval, a bill needs a two-thirds majority in both chambers of the parliament to become law.
Yeltsin Blasts Media Bill
25 November 1994
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