The text of the decree is posted in the legal system "ConsultantPlus", the industry magazine "Bulletin of the cinema distributor" drew attention to it. At the time of publication of the news, the decree had not yet been published on the official portal of legal information and on the president's website.

By decree, Putin allows the government to reduce the share of the Russian Federation in JSC "First Channel" to 34%. It follows from Putin's decree that the joint-stock company will carry out an additional issue of shares, which will be sold to non-state shareholders. The additional issue must take place within three months from the date of the publication of the decree, dated December 21.

Now the state directly (through the Federal Property Management Agency) owns 38.9% of Channel One, another 9.1% of the shares belong to FSUE ITAR-TASS, 3% belongs to FSUE Ostankino. If the share of the Federal Property Management Agency drops to 34%, this means that the volume of the additional issue will amount to 12.8%. If we assume that the share of both FSUEs will be diluted in the same way, then the effective share of the state in Channel One will drop to 44.6%. But the state, having lost control, will receive a "golden share", according to Putin's decree.

29% of Channel One control the structures of the National Media Group (NMG). The remaining 20% ​​of shares from 2019 belonged to the state bank VTB, but at the end of September 2020 they were sold to an unknown owner. Sources of RBC and Vedomosti in the media market then claimed that they could return to Roman Abramovich.

The Bell requested comments from Channel One.

Updated

The release of Putin's decree was later confirmed to RBC by the press service of the Ministry of Digital Industry, announcing the appointment of the presidential aide and former Minister of Economic Development Maxim Oreshkin as chairman of the board of directors of Channel One. The department explained the increase in the authorized capital of the TV channel and the appointment of Oreshkin "by the need for financial recovery." “Such a high level of government representation on the company's board of directors is an additional confirmation of the fact that Channel One is still one of the key media assets of the state,” the ministry said.