Russia Kills Last Independent Television Station
Wednesday, July 2nd, 2003According to this BBC story and further discussion on the NewsHour, Russia has closed its last independent television station, and just before elections, what a coincidence. The station was critical of the Kremlin, and of President Putin in particular, now with parliamentary elections coming up in the fall, the only television stations left on Russian T.V. are state owned or state sanctioned.
I can’t be the only one who finds this just a little bit concerning. I mean the last thing we need right now is for Russia to become unstable, and this move certainly at first blush looks like a slide back towards communist Russia. The upcoming elections in Russia will be interesting, and if Putin and the Kremlin do what critics in Russia fear, re-write the constitution such that Putin gets a third term (the constitution limits the president to just two terms), then I think we really should start worrying.
