The NTV Affair (Russian: Дело НТВ, romanized: Delo NTV) was a campaign of harassment against and a hostile takeover of the independent NTV television network by Gazprom and the government of Russia, lasting from the May 2000 raid on its offices by the Federal Tax Police Service and its 14 April 2001 buyout by Gazprom-Media, the media arm of Gazprom. 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. As a result of the buyout, media freedom in Russia substantially decreased.

NTV was founded in 1993 by Russian oligarch Vladimir Gusinsky as part of the "Media-MOST" media grouping, also including daily newspaper Segodnya [ru], newsweekly Itogi [ru] and the Echo of Moscow radio station. From its early days, NTV became notable for its independent news coverage, particularly on the First Chechen War. NTV's coverage of the war brought public attention in Russia to atrocities committed by the Russian military in Chechnya, ultimately driving public opposition to the war.

After the 1998 Russian financial crisis Media-MOST amassed a significant amount of debt, and was forced to postpone its initial public offering as a result of the crisis. According to journalist Gregory Feifer, individuals describing the NTV Affair and campaign against Media-MOST as being non-political in nature have frequently cited this debt as a reason for the affair. Feifer, however, has rejected this claim, saying that "finances are hardly ever the explanation in Moscow — unless they have something to do with politics."

During the 1999 Russian legislative election NTV actively supported Yury Luzhkov, Mayor of Moscow and leader of the Fatherland – All Russia, who was one of the strongest opponents of President Boris Yeltsin and the pro-Yeltsin Unity party as well as a longtime supporter of Gusinsky. This brought it into a conflict with Public Russian Television, owned by Boris Berezovsky, which supported Yeltsin and Unity. 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.

One of the most popular shows on NTV during the late 1990s and early 2000s was Puppets (Russian: Куклы, romanized: Kukly), a satirical comedy depicting Russian politics in a negative light. Puppets' portrayal of Putin particularly incensed the leader, and several individuals, including Gusinsky and independent media outlet The Moscow Times have cited the show as one of Putin's strongest grievances against NTV.

Shortly after Putin's victory in the 2000 Russian presidential election plans began to be drawn up to bring an end to NTV. 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.

On 11 May 2000, four days after Putin's inauguration as president, armed officers of the Federal Tax Police Service raided NTV's Moscow headquarters. The raid, which lasted 12 hours, was claimed by the Federal Tax Police Service and the Federal Security Service (FSB) as having been part of a broader investigation into Media-MOST which was unrelated to politics. Initially, the FSB claimed that it was a financial investigation, before later changing its story and saying that it was in response to illegal wiretaps. Gusinsky, however, rejected the government's claims, as did opposition politicians Grigory Yavlinsky (from the liberal Yabloko party) and Gennady Zyuganov (from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation).

Following the raid on NTV's headquarters, Gusinsky was charged with stealing $10 million in a privatisation deal and arrested. He subsequently fled to Spain.