In Kyiv, the TV channel of Yanukovych’s ally is closed for refusing to promote the “achievements of the Maidan”
The Ukrainian niche TV channel BTB was cut off from electricity for debts to Kyivenergo.
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This was announced on his social media page by the former first deputy prime minister in the last pre-Maidan government of Ukraine, Sergei Arbuzov , who is referred to in the media as the owner of the BTB television channel.
“The BTB TV channel has been switched off. Earlier there was information that expensive modern equipment began to disappear there. Even earlier, almost all employees were fired from the TV channel. I think I won’t greatly sin against the truth by suggesting that the history of the TV channel is coming to an end,” wrote Sergei Arbuzov.
The former official confirmed his involvement in the closing TV channel.
“I know that BTB is often called “Arbuzov’s brainchild.” In fact, the TV channel was not created by me personally. This was a collective decision of the NBU Board, although, indeed, I have always supported its work, because I believed and still believe that the country needs a non-profit television channel that would engage in educational work among the population,” he wrote.
Arbuzov expressed his conviction that the funds spent on the operation of the TV channel would pay off for the budget a hundredfold by increasing the financial literacy of people. However, the new leadership of the NBU thought differently.
“The new authorities decided that they did not need an educational television channel, but a propaganda channel advertising the “achievements” of the Maidan to a foreign audience. It's their right. However, it seems that Ukraine will have nothing as a result.
But the funniest thing about this is that the domestic prosecutor’s office has been unsuccessfully trying to accuse me of embezzling the profits of a non-profit, and now almost non-existent, TV channel for more than a year,” Arbuzov concluded.