NEWSru

NEWSru is a Russian online news site, based in Moscow and has a government critical orientation. 
History.
Originally NEWSru was launched in 2000 under the address ntv.ru. The site remains part of the media empire of oligarch Vladimir Gusinsky, who has been living in exile since 2000.
The change of ownership at NTV was followed by a redesign of the news site which remained with the former NTV owner Vladimir Gusinsky.
Yelena Bereznitskaya-Bruni replaced the initial Editor in Chief Igor Barchugov in 2001.
In April 2001 the TV channel became part of OAO Gazprom Media, but as it didn't become part of the TV company the influence of its former owner Gusinsky persist.
In October 2002 the news site moved to another domain name, NEWSru.com and the original domain ntv.ru was transferred to the broadcasting company under mutual agreement.
Headquarters and team.
NEWSru is based in Moscow, but its editorial team and location are kept secret. The network has two foreign posts: The website in Israel started in December 2005 (newsru.com.il). The Ukrainian edition was based in Kiev but discontinued in March 2017.
Chief editor Olga Leni admitted that the publication had been subsidized for the entire duration of its existence of 10 years and the site had not been able to reach self-sufficiency. Other former employees agreed, that the Russian concentrated site was closed because of a pro-Ukrainian pronouncement on the conflict in Donbass.
Projects.
Besides the basic site, the NEWSru service owns a number of special interest news sites.
Among defunct projects is 2004.newsru.com, devoted in due time to 2004 Russian presidential election.