Russian editor's arrest 'a provocation'

A deputy editor of the Russian daily newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta has been detained on suspicion of blackmailing a senior official, according to the interior ministry. Neither the paper nor the police have revealed the name of the journalist, who is alleged to have threatened to publish damaging material about a bureaucrat unless he agreed to pay him $30,000 (£20,600) per month. But the paper calls the arrest a "carefully planned provocation" designed to intimidate critical media outlets in the run-up to state elections. (Via Moscow Times)