Putin insult prompts journalist firings

MOSCOW, Dec. 14 (UPI) -- Journalists working for a Russian publisher say the firing of two top employees for printing anti-Vladimir Putin photos amounted to an act of intimidation.

The employees of Kommersant publishing house placed an open letter on an infotainment Web site Wednesday criticizing owner Alisher Usmanov's sacking of Andrei Galiyev, general manager of Kommersant holding, and editor Maxim Kovalsky of the weekly Kommersant Vlast, the Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported.

The two were fired over several photographs that accompanied an article about the Dec. 4 Duma elections. The Duma is the lower house of the Russian parliament.

One of the photos showed a ballot cast for the liberal Yabloko party that had been signed by the voter wit an obscene suggestion for Putin, Russia's prime minister, that read "Putin, [expletive] off," The Moscow Times reported.

Kovalsky, who served as editor for 12 years, said he had no regrets. "I'm convinced I did everything correctly and don't regret that the issue was (handled) exactly as it was," he said.

One staffer at Kommersant told the Times the dismissals came after "enormous pressure from the Kremlin."