Cable TV provider pulls plug on three Russian channels over Lukashenka documentary

• 16.05.2008, 14:16

The Minsk city authorities have ordered a cable television company to stop transmitting three Russian channels after two of them showed a banned documentary about Alyaksandr Lukashenka.

A statement posted on the website of Kosmos TV says that the channels will be no longer available to its subscribers “for reasons that have nothing to do with the company.”

In his May 15 letter to the company marked as “urgent,” Mikhail Tsitsyankow, deputy chairman of the Minsk City Executive Committee, said that the authorities had withdrawn permission for the broadcast of 24Doc, Feniks Art and NST.

When reached by BelaPAN on Friday, both the city executive committee and Kosmos TV declined to comment on the matter.

Unconfirmed reports suggest that the city authorities decided to pull the plug on the channels after “An Ordinary President,” a 1996 critical documentary about Mr. Lukashenka’s rule shot by prominent Belarusian filmmaker Yury Khashchavatski, was aired by 24Doc and NST.

In an interview with BelaPAN, Mr. Khashchavatski noted that 24Doc, a documentary channel, showed many of his films. “I know that the same situation was in Babruysk in the past – they pulled the plug on 24Doc because it showed my films,” he said.