Liquidation of Media-Most Ordered

Dealing another blow to Media-Most, a Russian court ordered the liquidation of the independent media group in response to a suit by tax authorities, a court spokesman said.

Media-Most has already lost its flagship NTV television channel to a takeover by state-linked gas company Gazprom. The gas company also took control of and then closed Media-Most's Sevodnya daily newspaper and fired the staff of its Itogi newsmagazine.

Tycoon Vladimir A. Gusinsky's media group was a vocal critic of President Vladimir V. Putin, but government officials said they were motivated solely by the goal of ending alleged financial misdeeds by powerful tycoons such as Gusinsky.