Russian TV Channels: Political reasons can stand behind our channels’ switching off in Belarus
- 2.04.2009, 10:28
Leadership of Russian TV channels comment on discontinuation of broadcasting at the territory of Belarus.
“We are viewing it as a serious and dangerous step, a step rather abrupt and alarming,” international relations director of the All-Russia State Television and Radio Company Sergei Koshlyakov said in an interview to Interfax. He is in particular responsible for the TV-channel RTR Planeta.
He noted that his company does not have an official comment on this occasion, but he shared some guesses.
“It is not excluded that there was a certain pressure of Belarusian companies to get rid of competition. There could also be possible dome political motives, for the Belarusian authorities not to lose the control over the informational space,” Sergei Koshlyakov said.
In his turn, NTV Director General Vladimir Kulistikov said to journalists that “this action has been performed apparently without regard to the opinion of the majority of Belarusian viewers”>
“For many years we were members of their families, sometimes entertained them, sometimes informed, and sometimes comforted them. The forcible disruption of our relations cannot be explained from the point of view of the politics, at least the declared politics,” Kulistikov believes.
The First Channel expressed perplexity with the events, however they withheld comment.
The situation with broadcasting of Russian TV channels in Belarus has been also discussed by the state secretary of the deputy head of the Russian Foreign Ministry Grigory Karasin with the first deputy minister of Foreign Affairs of Belarus I. Pyatryshenka.
In the report of the Russian Foreign Ministry issued on Thursday, it is said that a phone conversation of the two high-ranking diplomats took place on the day before.
The sides discussed some urgent issues of Belarusian-Russian dealings.
“The situation with Russian channels’ broadcasting via the cable network was discussed as well,” the report of the Russian Foreign Ministry informs.
As we have informed, since April 1, broadcasting of Russian Channel One (World Network), NTV Mir, RenTV, TV Centre International and RTR-Planeta have been stopped in Belarus. TV channels “Russia. Vesti 24 Hours”, “Mir.CIS” , and TN have replaced them now.