Chubarov: TV station to be ‘propaganda tool’ 

PRAGUE – Russia will establish a Crimean Tatar broadcasting company to replace TV and radio stations shut down by the Moscow-controlled government this spring, but a senior leader of the annexed peninsula’s Muslim ethnic minority dismissed the initiative as a bid to create a “propaganda tool.” Refat Chubarov, the leader of the Crimean Tatar Mejlis, told RFE/RL that the new broadcaster in the Crimean Tatar language will be “another propaganda tool for the occupiers in Crimea. …What they are creating is a media outlet fully controlled by the illegal government of annexed Crimea.” Mr. Chubarov has been barred from Russia, and the Russian authorities in Crimea recently said he is being investigated on suspicion of separatism. In an order issued on June 9, the Moscow-backed government that controls Crimea said the Public Crimean Tatar Television and Radio Corporation (OKKT) must be registered by July 1. It said the regional State Commission for Nationalities will help establish the new broadcaster and will supervise its activities. The corporation’s main goals were described as “production and distribution of television and radio programs providing thorough and multifaceted coverage of social, political, economic and cultural activities of the Republic of Crimea… mainly in the Crimean Tatar language.” The Kremlin-backed head of the Crimean government, Sergei Aksyonov, told a Cabinet session that the broadcaster will be funded by the federal government in Moscow, which he said has allocated 177 million rubles ($3.2 million) for the purpose. “The issue of the public Crimean Tatar television is a major goal for the Ministry of Communication and Information,” Mr. Aksyonov said. The Russian authorities announced plans for a new TV and radio company shortly after the only independent TV channel broadcasting in the Crimean Tatar language, ATR, was forced to shut down and stopped operating on April 1. (Merhat Sharipzhan of RFE/RL, with reporting by the Crimean Desk of RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service)