OSTANKINO TELEVISION MAY GO UNDER.

The number two official at Moscow’s Ostankino state television service said that the Russian government was starving his organization financially, NTV reported June 13. Grigori Shevelev said his organization could not pay salaries to staffers or the fees required to use broadcast facilities. Shevelev suggested that the government did not care whether Ostankino surveyed and preferred the pro-government but private ORT “public” television. ORT’s director Sergei Blagovolin rejected this suggestion. In other comments, Blagovolin noted that his recent public appearance in a military uniform during a broadcast from Chechnya was only a mark of respect to the army.

Investment Down Even As Economy Shows Signs Of Growth.