The Moscow Times has hired Mikhail Fishman to be its next chief editor, according to an announcement on the Facebook page of MoscowTimes Publishing, the newspaper's publishing house. The newspaper's owner, Demyan Kudryavtsev, has also confirmed the appointment.
Mikhail Fishman served two years as the head of Newsweek's Russian edition, until it closed down in 2010. Fishman is currently chief editor of Slon Magazine and hosts a show on the independent television network Dozhd.
In September 2014, Russia adopted a law limiting foreign ownership of mass media outlets to 20 percent, and prohibiting foreigners from being the founders of mass media outlets. The norms laid out in this law will be introduced on January 1, 2016. Media owners will have until February 1, 2017, to comply with the new requirements.
The Moscow Times regularly publishes articles by prominent Russian journalists, and has served as a "training ground" for foreign correspondents, including Ellen Barry, future New York Times Moscow bureau chief and Pulitzer Prize winner.
In April 2015, along with several of its media assets, The Moscow Times' previous owner, Sanoma Independent Media, sold the newspaper to the former general director of Kommersant's publishing house, Demyan Kudryavtsev. After The Moscow Times retired its daily edition and switched to a weekly model at the beginning of November, the paper's most recent chief editor, Nabi Abdullaev, resigned.
In mid-October, Yuri Sapyrkin, the former chief editor of the Rambler-Afisha editorial office, was made the editorial director of MoscowTimes Publishing.