After more than 20 years, Echo of Moscow’s deputy chief editor resigns, citing disagreements with chief editor

After more than 20 years at the station, Marina Koroleva, Echo of Moscow‘s deputy chief editor is resigning. In a Facebook post earlier today, she announced her decision, citing the need to go her “own way” relative to chief editor Alexey Venediktov, whose leadership over the past year has come under intense criticism.

“With [Venediktov], our paths diverge,” Koroleva wrote, “as I told him (and therefore I can speak calmly about it here), because of a ‘combination of reasons.’ This doesn’t mean that one of us is good and one of us is bad—it just means that everyone goes their own way. Being somebody’s deputy is the kind of position that requires total understanding and total trust.”

Sunday, December 27, Koroleva will host her final episode of “Govorim po-russki,” an interactive game show, where callers can win prizes like books and dictionaries for demonstrating knowledge of correct Russian grammar. 

Earlier this month, Lesya Ryabtseva left her post as Venediktov’s aide. Immediately afterwards, she appeared on the pro-Kremlin NTV television network, where she viciously criticized members of the Russian democratic opposition (Echo of Moscow‘s biggest demographic).

In May 2015, Sergey Korzun, Echo of Moscow‘s founder and first editor-in-chief, resigned, accusing station’s management of betraying the audience. Korzun said he refused to “support the new course of [Venediktov], aimed at keeping up rankings to the detriment of core values.” Korzun says resignation was triggered by posts published on the station’s official website by Lesya Ryabtseva.