SIMFEROPOL, September 1. /TASS/. The head of the Crimean Republic, Sergey Aksyonov, has ruled out the risk of any censorship on the newly-founded public television channel of the Crimean Tatars, Millet, which went on air in Crimea on Tuesday.

"There will be no censorship. The authorities are to be criticized. I believe it is a normal phenomenon. The media must be free," Aksyonov said in reply to a question from TASS. "Ours is a free press, and it can discuss any themes. I am open and always prepared to answer any question."

Aksyonov believes that a public council will be very helpful in shaping a competent editorial policy of the new channel.

"The way I see it, the television channel has created a professional team capable of delivering quality products. Seats on the public council have been taken by people enjoying great respect, including the spiritual leader - our mufti. I believe that the company will be able to provide what the people are expecting from it," Aksyonov said.

The public television channel of the Crimean Tatars, Millet (literally meaning The People) and the radio station Vatan Sedasy (Echo of Motherland) started broadcasting at 07:00 Moscow time. They took less than six months and $2.7 million of the republican budget’s money to create.

The newly-established public television and radio station was established in Crimea after the Crimean Tatars’ television channel ATR stopped broadcasts on April 1, 2015.