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Ukrainian minister threatens TV channel with closure for airing Russian entertainers

Earlier on the same day, Alexander Turchinov demanded that the channel be stripped of the broadcasting license for putting on the air the spots by a number of Russia show biz people

KIEV, January 2. /TASS/. Ukrainian Culture Minister Vyacheslav Kirilenko plans to file a request with the government to suspend the programming of Inter television channel, which put spots by Russian entertainers on its New Year night show.

Kirilineko twittered about his initiative on Thursday.

“I’ll make a proposal to the government to suspend transmission of Inter’s signal by the state corporation RRT,” he wrote adding that his initiative would target any channels airing the performances by Russian entertainers.

“To put it in plain language, the tower at Syrets /the Kiev television tower - TASS/ may take Inter off the air,” Kirilenko added.

He was not the first Ukrainian official to voice threats against Inter. Earlier on the same day, Alexander Turchinov, the diehard secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council demanded that the channel be stripped of the broadcasting license for putting on the air the spots by a number of Russia show biz people.

He urged the national broadcasting board to consider the issue immediately, since he perceived Inter’s action as “an element of the information was conducted against own homeland.”

In the small hours of January 1, Inter relayed the New Year show of a Russian TV channel that included the performers who had earlier expressed support for Moscow’s official stance on the dragged-out crisis in Ukraine.