'%20id='ico-down'%20stroke='%23000000'%20stroke-width='1.5'%3e%3cg%20transform='translate(1092.250000,%20254.750000)'%3e%3cpolyline%20id='Path-2-Copy-4'%20transform='translate(5.500000,%202.750000)%20scale(1,%20-1)%20rotate(-180.000000)%20translate(-5.500000,%20-2.750000)%20'%20points='0%200%205.5%205.5%2011%200'%3e%3c/polyline%3e%3c/g%3e%3c/g%3e%3c/g%3e%3c/svg%3e){kind=small}
German media group WAZ has sold its 50 percent stake in Serbia’s oldest and most influential daily Politika to a Russian company, in a move denounced by journalists as “scandalous”.
The Serbian Business Registers Agency said on its website that the new owner of the stake was the East Media Group based in Russia, while the Serbian government holds the remaining shares.
Serbia’s Association of Journalists (UNS) said in a statement it was “shocked” at the news of the sale and demanded that the outgoing government inform the public about the circumstances of this “scandalous transaction”.
WAZ has been present in Serbia since 2001, with publications including Politika, Sportski Zurnal, Dnevnik and the Serbian edition of the magazine Auto Bild.
In 2010, the group, which was the subject of controversy in the press over some of its activities, announced plans to sells off its business interests in the Balkan country.