Her protection is guaranteed

With Russia in the news, worth taking note of a dispute between the Russian edition of Forbes magazine and its German publishers. It's convoluted -- what in Russia isn't -- but it pertains to one element of Russia's oligarchy, namely that the wife of the Mayor of Moscow just so happens to be a billionare, and the couple are increasingly touchy about the scrutiny (Wall Street Journal, subs' req'd; alt. free link) --

The controversy began Monday when the Russian version of Newsweek, which is also published under license by Axel Springer, carried an ad for Forbes's December issue, showing the magazine's cover with a photo of Ms. Baturina [the billionaire] accompanied by the words: "My Protection is Guaranteed."

In a statement, Axel Springer Russia said Ms. Baturina had been misquoted, saying that she had, in fact, said: "Like any investor, I am guaranteed protection of my rights" -- and the quote as published would have misled readers. The company said it had decided to suspend production of the December issue because "principles of journalistic ethics had not been observed" in the cover story.

... However, Mr. Kashulinsky [Forbes editor] maintains that he replaced the offending quote prior to publication with one approved by Ms. Baturina. He alleges that Axel Springer pulled the issue because Inteko [her company] had obtained an advance copy of the article -- in violation of Forbes's policy -- and threatened to sue for libel if it was printed. Mr. Kashulinsky said he didn't know how Inteko came by a copy of the story.

In the post Polonium 210 world, getting hold of an advance copy of a magazine article doesn't seem too difficult.