Local media have picked up on the rush to beautify the parts of the city Putin will visit, and have started asking hard questions about where the funding is coming from. The RUSNORD Information Agency guessed that Putin wouldn’t be taken to the less polished, crumbling parts of town, and wagered the former president would pick up on signs of a “Potemkin village.”

As an apparent response, city authorities have decided to pressure the media into silence. As Newsru.com reports(Rus), officials are forcing local publications to cease publishing negative reports about authorities and the city.

One local newspaper leaked the story, alleging that law enforcement officers representing the city are walking door to door, compelling editors to sign a statement. The document, available online(Rus) reads:

“In connection with a working visit by RF Prime Minister V.V. Putin and the RF Minister of Internal Affairs R.N. Nurgaliev to the city of Arkhangelsk over the period from 07.07.07 to 07.15.08, I pledge not to take orders for the publication of printed materials containing negative information regarding public authorities of all levels, as well as information that could lead to the creation of a tense atmosphere among the public.”

Putin is scheduled to arrive on July 11th. His plans include a visit to two area shipyards. He will also meet with local government authorities and representatives of the security ministries.

It was earlier reported that a row of Russia’s most prominent publishers were planning to print a blank front-page on May 21st, with only five lines of text. The protest was meant to signify what would happen if the price for delivering newspapers continued to rise, and if consumers could no longer afford subscriptions. “Freedom of the press can be strangled in different ways,” a group of editors said in a statement. “For instance, by a sharp jump in subscription rates.” Participating publications included the Argumenty i Fakty, Izvestia, and Komsomolskaya Pravda newspapers.

By the late afternoon, the event was dropped.

“White lines won’t be issued tomorrow,” Pavel Gusev, the editor-in-chief of the Moskovsky Komsomolets, told Interfax. “The fact of the matter is that the presidential administration and the Ministry of Telecommunications and Print got involved in the affair, and most likely, all of our demands will be satisfied.” Gusev, who heads a federal advisory committee on matters of freedom of speech in the media, said that special negotiations will take place Thursday.

According to the publishers, the Russian Post has broken promises to keep price hikes tied to inflation.
Vladimir Sungorkin, the editor in chief of Komsomolskaya Pravda, said that “prices have recently grown by 100%, 200%, and even 400% in some regions.” He added that corruption and mismanagement at the postal service was partly responsible.

Vladimir Mamontov, the editor-in-chief of Izvestia, said that “the action [was] directed to sparing the print media, for now.”

“Commercially successful newspapers are taking part in the action, but they are also worrying,” Mamontov continued. “And what of those publications, that don’t have the capacity to use the resources of the advertising market to such an extent?!”