GLASNOST DEFENSE FOUNDATION'S DIGEST No.183 (May 24, 2004)

Ukraine - Autonomous Crimean Republic. Russian-language TV program shut down

By Mark Agatov, GDF staff correspondent in Ukraine and ARC

The Krym State TV and Radio Company management has unilaterally and without any prior official warning closed the TV program Kuranty.

According to Krym's general director Valentin Kozubsky, "the program can no longer be released in the 'news program' format provided for under the November 1, 2003 agreement between the Krym State TV and Radio Company and the Russian Cultural Center".

The Kuranty program, released by a team of creative professionals sponsored by the Moscow-Crimea Foundation and Russian Cultural Center, was the sole television program that used to depict the various aspects of life of the Crimean Republic's Russian-language population, promote interethnic friendship, and build up "media-encouraged cooperation between the executive and representative branches of the Autonomous Crimean Republic and the City of Moscow, as provided for under existing agreements".

Throughout the program's many-year history, the Kuranty staff stringently observed Ukrainian legislation and existing labor regulations, and maintained good business and creative relations with the State TV and Radio Company's personnel. No major differences or conflicts ever occurred with the management, either, which makes the latest decision on the unilateral termination of traditionally efficient cooperation agreements still more meaningless and unclear. The closure of this Russian-language program is deemed to be a flagrant violation of Ukraine's laws giving the Russian Cultural Center as one of the program's founders every reason to protest the decision in court and appeal for help to the international public.

Many Krym staffers believe the program was shut down under pressure from the Crimean Republic's Premier Sergey Kunitsyn. Members of the Russian Expats' Coordinating Council maintain that "this unprecedented ousting of the Russian-language program Kuranty from Ukrainian television is yet another proof of the overall discriminatory attitude towards Russian culture on the Crimean Peninsula".

The Council has urged the Crimean Republic's Supreme Soviet to "prevent relapses of anti-Russian sentiments in the Crimea; ensure real interethnic equality; and guarantee equal application of existing constitutional norms and other laws to one and all". The statement's authors appealed to international organizations for a legal assessment of the TV program's closure, and for help in defending the Russian-speaking residents' freedom of expression and right to develop their culture on a par with the other interethnic groups living in the Autonomous Crimean Republic.