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Public Television financial problems not discussed at meeting with PM

On Tuesday, head of Russian Public Television Anatoly Lysenko reported that the monetary funds in the OTR budget were over

MOSCOW, July 26 (Itar-Tass) - Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and the head of Russian Public Television, Anatoly Lysenko, did not discuss financial difficulties of Public Television, but mainly its creative plans, prime minister’s spokeswoman Natalia Timakova told Tass on Friday.

“A meeting with Lysenko did take place, but it did not discuss the financial situation of Russian Public Television. The prime minister received information about creative plans of the TV channel, its work with the audience, in particular the feed. The issue of how the current financial difficulties facing Public Television will be tackled was not discussed at the meeting,” Timakova said.

“This issue is within the competence of the Ministry of Telecommunications and Mass Communications and the Federal Agency for Press and Mass Communications (Rospechat),” she confirmed the earlier stated position.

On Tuesday, Lysenko told Tass that the monetary funds in the OTR budget were over.

“By now our budget has been fully exhausted. I do not know how we will live in the future,” he said. “The legend that the TV channel can live on donations did not justify itself,” he commented on the situation.

The Russian state authorities allocated 1.5 billion roubles for the start of the Russian Public TV. In the future the TV channel was expected to live on the interest rates from the endowment fund formed of donations.

The head of Rospechat, Mikhail Seslavinsky, reported that negotiations on a loan to the TV channel will begin shortly. According to an Itar-Tass source, Vnesheconombank may grant a loan of 300 million roubles to the television for the term of up to three years.