In Russia politicians in power are almost always dissatisfied with the media and do everything they can to put limits on it. Mikhail Gorbachev has earned his place in history for his policy of openness and glasnost. We learned for the first time how wonderful it is to feel free, to be able to speak freely. But Gorbachev tried at the same time to limit freedom of speech. At the beginning of 1991 he announced that it was necessary to amend the law on the press to limit its freedom. At the time this provoked strong protest in society and Gorbachev did not go through with the amendments.


Anatoly Lukyanov, former chairman of the Soviet parliament, did not like the press. He tried to dictate to Izvestia what it could publish and what it could not. He tried to turn the newspaper into his obedient servant. Lukyanov partially succeeded in this, since Izvestia was headed at that time by the overly compliant Nikolai Yefimov. But the staff did not want to knuckle under. So Lukyanov and his cohorts made a detailed plan to purge Izvestia; first of all they wanted to get rid of Igor Golembiovsky, who was first deputy to the editor-in-chief. Golembiovsky was unquestionably the leader of the collective.


The decision to start the purge was supposed to be made at a session of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, at which. Yefimov began his speech with the words, "There is a conspiracy against the Supreme Soviet and against Lukyanov at Izvestia", and fainted.


They took him to the hospital. If it hadn't been for the putsch, Lukyanov would have succeeded in strangling Izvestia. But after the putsch Izvestia became truly independent.


The speaker of the Russian parliament, Ruslan Khasbulatov, has now decided to repeat Lukyanov's attempt to destroy Izvestia. He decided to subordinate the newspaper to himself, to dictate his wishes to it. Khasbulatov announced that there was a conspiracy against him personally at Izvestia. But as soon as Khasbulatov tried to subjugate the newspaper, there was a public outcry. Then Khasbulatov decided to change his tactics. At his initiative the Supreme Soviet passed a decree to the effect that the Izvestia publishing house and printing facilities would henceforth be under the direct control of parliament. Since property rights in Russia are so muddled and it is hard to determine what belongs to whom, such an illegal act is completely feasible.


The plan for further action is clear: The Supreme Soviet appoints its own man as director of the Izvestia publishing house, who then presents the newspaper with a huge bill for printing services and for use of the premises. It is not out of the question that the staff will be kicked out of its famous building on Pushkin Square. Upon learning of the proposed scenario, Yury Yefremov, the present director of the Izvestia publishing house, clutched his heart and was taken to the hospital by ambulance.


It is possible that Khasbulatov will be able to to finish off Izvestia. He will kill not only the newspaper, but freedom of the press in general. But he should bear in mind what Gorbachev and Lukyanov think about press freedom today: They both value it very highly. When Gorbachev had his problems with the Constitutional Court and the building where his fund is located, he turned to the media for help. Lukyanov, from his cell in the Matrosskaya Tishina prison, thanks the press, mainly the pro-Communist and national-patriotic publications, for its support.


Who knows, there may come a time when Khasbulatov will have to turn to the press.


Nikolai Andreyev is a political observer for Izvestia.