If it goes according to the Kremlin's plan, Russians will soon have no choice but to watch television programmes that laud President Vladimir Putin's every move. After more than a year of wrangling, Russia's mammoth state-controlled gas monopoly, Gazprom, backed by a small American investment company, this week took over ntv, the country's last national television station that has stayed independent of the Kremlin. Meanwhile, on the same day that ntv finally lost its battle, Mr Putin made a state-of-the-nation speech in which he promised to press ahead with liberal reforms in just about every corner of Russian life.
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