The campaign has been widely described as politically motivated, with the intention of cracking down on opposition to Vladimir Putin in Russia and independent media.

Luzhkov's resounding defeat in the election, the appointment of security officer Vladimir Putin as Prime Minister, and the beginning of the Second Chechen War, resulted in increased pressure from Gazprom on NTV regarding the latter company's debts.

Gleb Pavlovsky, an adviser to the Russian government, later admitted to having led efforts to crack down on NTV and Media-MOST from 1999 at Berezovsky's request.

[4] On 11 May 2000, four days after Putin's inauguration as president,[5] armed officers of the Federal Tax Police Service raided NTV's Moscow headquarters.

Mikhail Lesin, Minister of Press and Mass Media, publicly stepped away from the case afterwards, in an effort to lend more credibility to the claim that the takeover was non-political.

Amid the impending buyout, CNN founder and American media mogul Ted Turner emerged as a potential saviour for the network.

However, four days after the decision, Kiselyov announced that Putin had written a letter to the NTV staff supporting Turner's purchase of 25% of stock.

His 3 April removal as Director-General, performed by Gazprom after calling a shareholders' meeting, was publicly opposed by NTV's staff, which vowed to support him.

[21] In spite of Gazprom's majority stake in NTV, the network's employees initially refused to accept the takeover after the 3 April vote that led to changes in board membership.

[23] Jordan's instatement caused protests from the Communist Party, with Zyuganov lamenting "In which other European country would it be possible for a foreigner to lead a nationwide television channel?"

and Chairman of the State Duma Gennadiy Seleznyov proclaiming that he "could not imagine a more inept decision" than hiring "shady figures" Koch and Jordan.

[25] Igor Yakovenko [ru], former head of the Union of Journalists of Russia, has blamed the NTV Affair for resulting in a loss of interest in news among Russians.