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Russias Ekho Moskvy radio station, which gives a platform to critics of the government, said it faces a threat to editorial independence as its state-controlled majority owner moved to replace the companys chief executive.

Ekaterina Pavlova a former high-level manager in state media, was elected as CEO at a shareholder meeting, Gazprom Media, a unit of the gas exporter, which controls 66 percent of voting shares, said on its website today. She replaces Yuri Fedutinov, who has been in that job since 1992.

The decision is unfair, Ekho Moskvy Editor-in-Chief Alexei Venediktov, who faces re-election to another five-year term, said in a blog entry today. The move is not based on economic grounds and is aimed at pressuring the editorial policy of Ekho Moskvy and personally me as editor-in-chief.

More coverage of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi

President Vladimir Putin is moving to control dissonant voices at home as Russians fume about the criticism of Sochi Olympics in global media. The Russian leader, who won a third term in 2012 after facing the biggest protests of his now 14-year rule, is tightening the reins on independent media, having brought the main national television channels under state control during his first term.

The overhaul at Ekho Moskvy, founded in the dying days of communism, follows the threat of closing for independent television channel Dozhd and the dissolution of state news service RIA Novosti.

Dozhd, which has given airtime to anti-Putin punk rockers Pussy Riot and opposition leader Alexey Navalny, came under fire after a poll on its website last month asked whether Soviet dictator Josef Stalin should have surrendered Leningrad to end a Nazi blockade. Amid outrage by veterans associations and pro-government lawmakers, the biggest cable operators said they would drop the channel, cutting its audience to about 2 million from almost 18 million.

Now Ekho Moskvy is feeling the heat through Gazprom Media, a unit of state-run OAO Gazprom, its majority owner since 2001 and the biggest media company in Russia. Its CEO was replaced by the Gazprom Media candidate against the wishes of editorial workers itself, Venediktov said.

While journalists, who own 34 percent of voting shares, have preserved control over editorial policy even under state ownership, that will change if Gazprom Media gets its way, Venediktov said. Ekho Moskvy, whose daily broadcasts reach 3.8 million people with a potential audience of about 46 million, regularly interviews opposition politicians and others with limited access to state-run television.

The state wants to reduce citizens access to information, Venediktov said by phone before todays shareholder meeting to elect a new CEO.Weve come under criticism, including from the president. Thats normal, but this criticism shouldnt be seen as a green light for officials to silence us.

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Putin Tightens Control Over Media as Radio Targeted After TV