[5][6] In 2000 with pressure from Mikhail Lesin, Gazprom-Media acquired NTV, the only nationwide state-independent television in Russia at the time, as well as other media assets of Vladimir Gusinsky's Media Most group including the satellite operator NTV-plus, TNT-Teleset, the radio station Echo of Moscow (Ekho Moskvy), and the Seven days (publishing house) [ru] (Семь дней) publishing house, which raised a major controversy and resulted in considerable changes to its editorial policy.

[4][7][8][9] After Gazprom-Media took over "Media Most" in 2000, Gazprom-Media received Filipp Bobkov's entire former KGB 5th directorate (Political police),[a] including all its thousands of employees, its database, and the security service founded by Bobkov that was accused of attempting to assassinate Boris Berezovsky in 1994.

[12] In 2000, Bobkov created the Institute for Strategic Assessments and Analysis (ISOA) (Russian: Институт стратегических оценок и анализа (ИСОА)), a joint stock company (JSC).

It operated as a think tank successor to Media Most's security department with the former head of KGB in Azerbaijan Vaqif Hüseynov [ru] (Russian: Вагиф Алиовсат оглы Гусейнов, b. born November 27, 1942, Quba, Azerbaijan).

[4] In May 2008, Sergei Fursenko's National Media Group [ru] gained a 50.1% stake in Izvestia.