‘Radio Svoboda’ deletes article about Prigozhin's catering business after threat of lawsuit

The U.S.-government-funded media outlet Radio Svoboda (Radio Liberty) deleted a story published last month about the activities of a company owned by the catering tycoon Evgeny Prigozhin, after receiving a letter of claim from the company calling the article defamatory.

The story, titled “They Acted Through Blackmail” (which you can still find here on Google’s cache), cites an anonymous source who claims that several competitors were forced to leave Moscow’s school catering market because of Prigozhin’s “Concord” food production facility, which dominates the city’s state procurement contracts.

Radio Svoboda says editors decided to remove the article after determining that the published information “could not be confirmed publicly without risk to our sources.” The journalists say they have no had evidence that Concord monopolized Moscow’s school catering business or committed any illegal, unfair, or fraudulent actions.