23 March 2000. The first television channel ORT in prime time showed a group of overtly homosexual men at the "Blue Heart Club" holding a news conference in support of Yavlinsky. ORT is 51% state-owned and reportedly controlled by Boris Berezovsky, one of the Kremlin "oligarchs" who backed Boris Yeltsin and Yeltsin's hand-picked successor Putin. ORT ended its report with a disclaimer that the media conference might be part of a disinformation campaign. Rumors have it that the whole thing was staged by Putin electoral headquarters with a view to make it appear that the urban intelligentsia's favorite for president was supported by gays. Putin campaign deputy head Kseniya Ponomaryova denied she had anything to do with the anti-Yavlinsky campaign and said, "ORT has shown that gays support Yavlinsky, and that there are grounds to consider that his campaign is financed by persons who do not have Russian citizenship. What can I do about it?" On the other hand, Yavlinsky could well be a likely choice for a gay voter, an economist viewed as a Western-style democrat who values individual liberties and whose support is based among the urban intelligentsia. Read the full story... >>