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Renowned TV anchor says Russia’s first ecological channel to go on air in 2017

Earlier the Kremlin announced next year will be the Year of Ecology in Russia

MOSCOW, December 28 /TASS/. Russia’s first public ecological television channel Eco TV may be launched in 2017 (declared the Year of Ecology nationwide by Russian President Vladimir Putin) renowned TV show host Nikolai Drozdov, head of the international Terra Viva ecological movement and president of the Skyleaf Eco TV media council, said on Wednesday.

"Global environmentalists suggested launching the first public ecology television channel in Russia in 2017. We believe that Russia should get its first specialized ecological TV channel focused entirely on environmental issues, during the Year of Ecology," Drozdov said clarifying that the new television station would be financed by private sponsors.

"The second meeting of the Year of Ecology organizing committee held in the Kremlin on November 29 supported our proposal to set up Eco TV in Russia. The meeting’s participants welcomed the idea of using Eco TV as a new social instrument in pursuing state environmental policy and covering many environmental events," Drozdov added.

The recent meeting of the Russian State Council held in the Kremlin announced the start of the Year of Ecology in Russia.

Drozdov said that the Skyleaf Eco TV studio opened in June 2013 as part of the celebrations for Day of the Ecologist and World Environment Day on the initiative of the global environmental movement. Drozdov noted that 17 ecological marathons were held in Russia in 2016. The ecological TV channel covered more than 50 environmental events. That, according to Drozdov, produced a broad public response and drew the attention of federal and regional power structures to the country’s environmental problems.

Nikolay Gudkov, the press service chief of the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources, said that his ministry would provide the channel with issue-related documentaries. Drozdov, in turn, said that Eco TV would also be happy to receive content from other TV channels.

Skyleaf Eco TV is officially registered by the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media effective as of December 30, 2014. Its broadcast license was issued on August 12, 2015. 

North Pole expeditions 

The Live Planet international environmental movement will organize its third international ecological expedition to the North Pole in April 2017, Nikolai Drozdov added:

"The third international ‘Pole of Peace and Friendship -2017’ expedition to the North Pole will start in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia. Its planned route will lie through Khatanga and Sredniy Island."

In a TASS interview, he clarified that the expedition would head off this April after the first East Siberian Environmental Forum. He believes that this full-scale event will help socially responsible businessmen to get first-hand knowledge about the ecological problems that Russian regions face.

The first expedition, consisting of politicians, environmentalists and public figures, visited the North Pole early in April 2015. The second one took place last April. Its participants divided themselves up in two groups: the first group visited Greenland and Iceland while the second reached the North Pole.