Ren-TV anchor Olga Romanova said late Monday that she had agreed to accept an offer to host a new program on the channel, four days after security guards prevented her from going on air.
She told Ekho Moskvy radio that she had received the offer in a letter Monday from Alexander Ordzhonikidze, the station's general director.
"I intend to carry out the station management's orders presented in the letter," she said. "Masochistic leanings have awoken inside me, and I intend to go to work every day."
Earlier Monday, Romanova said that she had asked the Prosecutor General's Office to open a criminal investigation into the three security guards who prevented her from airing her "24" news program last week.
"I wonder why three guards who don't work for the station but for a private security agency used physical force to prevent me from going on air," Romanova said. "They said they were acting on orders from Ordzhonikidze."
The guards blocked Romanova from entering the studio on Thursday night, hours after she told Ekho Moskvy that Ren-TV management had blocked several reports that might have irritated Kremlin officials. Romanova then learned that her show had been canceled.
Mikhail Fedotov, secretary of the Russian Union of Journalists and a former press minister who is defending Romanova's legal interests, said Monday that he had sent a legal brief to Ren-TV's management seeking clarification of the situation.
Ordzhonikidze has said he axed Romanova's show in a revamp aimed at boosting ratings. He could not be reached for comment Monday, but he told Ekho Moskvy that he had appointed a new editor at Ren-TV.
The editor, Ilya Kuzmenkov, told Ekho Moskvy that he had asked Romanova to propose a new program.
Meanwhile, Ren-TV's new owners reiterated Monday that they would not interfere with changes in the channel's editorial policy.
