Moscow Comes Up with NTV Closure Issue :: Charter'97 :: News

Moscow intends to bring up before the Belarusian authorities the issue of the NTV office’s shutdown in Minsk. “We are set to consider this problem with the Belarusian side,” – said the official Russian Foreign Ministry representative Alexander Yakovenko. Meantime, he underscored that the Russian Foreign Ministry regrets the decision to shut down NTV office in Minsk.

“Hopefully, the Belarusian authorities will change their mind soon and NTV office will resume its operation on the territory of Belarus,” – said Yakovenko.

On Wednesday the Belarusian Foreign Ministry will officially hand in to the NTV representatives a governmental ruling on the TV company’s shutdown, RIA “Novosti” was told by NTV employees with a reference to the information from the Foreign Ministry.

According to the Belarusian legislation, the representation’s activities can resume within a half-year time after the closure.

At the same time, the press-secretary of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry Andrei Savinykh said on Tuesday that given NTV brings its apologies on air for disseminating false information, the government may determine to reconsider the closure order and let the company restart its work.