Oil giant LUKOIL forced a showdown with editors from the newspaper Izvestia on Tuesday, convening a shareholders meeting at which oil company officials were made a majority on the paper's board of directors. The editors, who say LUKOIL and the government are trying to undermine the paper's editorial independence, had sought to postpone the shareholders meeting, scheduled for Tuesday, until June 4. LUKOIL representatives arrived at the Izvestia building on Pushkin Square claiming they had the backing of owners of 51 percent of Izvestia's shares, and demanded that a meeting be convened. Newspaper representatives declined to take part or provide a meeting place. After a noisy standoff outside the Izvestia board room, a shareholders' meeting was convened at a nearby school. A new board of directors was appointed that includes four LUKOIL and three Izvestia representatives, Interfax and NTV television reported.