A High-Stakes Game of Telephone

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In documents filed with the International Court of Arbitration in New York, the state-owned Norwegian telecommunications company Telenor is accusing the Russian telecom company Altimo of having "bribed journalists, whipped up nationalism and distorted the truth in an attempt to gain control of a mobile network in Ukraine which is jointly owned by the two companies," reports Michael Harrison. Telenor's court filings include what it says is documentation that "Altimo was paying a local Ukrainian public relations firm $12,000 (£6,200) a month to run a campaign against it. The budget also included $141,000 to 'discredit the image of Norway in Ukraine.'" Altimo is also accused of paying journalists "for writing unfavourable stories about Telenor including $1,000 for an article about Telenor's share price falling and $5,600 for an interview with Altimo's vice-president." Altimo is challenging the allegations, which The Independent calls "the latest" in "a long-running dispute" between the two companies.