A demand by tax authorities for the bankruptcy of the Russian independent Media-MOST group will be examined in mid-January, the Moscow arbitration court said on Monday, Interfax reported.
The court would decide later on Monday, or on Tuesday, the precise date for the hearing, the news agency added.
Moscow's city tax inspectorate announced on Friday that it had filed a suit demanding the liquidation of Media-MOST and its flagship NTV television station, the only independent Russian nationwide TV channel.
The media group's owner, Vladimir Gusinsky, is detained in Spain, awaiting extradition on charges of embezzling 250 million dollars.
He fled Russia in July after being briefly imprisoned on separate fraud charges, an investigation that sparked fears for media freedom in Russia -- MOSCOW (AFP)
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