Russian journalists are complaining about the absence of open political debate in Russia, and prefer working in Ukraine where there is "real politics," the British newspaper the Financial Times has reported.
In an article dedicated to the work of Russian reporters in the Ukrainian media, the newspaper cites an interview with well-known Russian television anchor Yevgeny Kiselev.Kiselev, who had been Russia's most influential TV journalist, and is currently commuting to his new job as an anchor in Ukraine, said that "traveling to Ukraine is like going back in a time machine to the 1990s.""They have real politics there. Working in Ukraine allows me to be a true political journalist," he said, adding that in Kyiv, unlike in Moscow, "politicians not only come on his show; they answer their own mobile phones.""In Russia, there is no open political debate any more. The authorities are hermetically sealed, we can just hypothesize about the discussion going on inside," Kiselev said, adding that "here [in Ukraine] you have access to tonnes of information on almost any politician." He said that the Ukrainian political scene is "so open, it is not that hard to learn it."The journalist also denied claims that he had come to Ukraine to advocate the Kremlin line."Everyone here knows perfectly well that the current owners of the channel [where Kiselev currently works] can in no way be seen as representatives of the Russian government," Kiselev said.Vladimir Gusinsky and Konstantin Kagalovsky, the owners of equal stakes in the TVi channel, also expressed the same views."I haven't been to Russia for five years. Gusinsky has criminal charges against him in Russia. No one will worry that this channel is advocating the Kremlin line," Kagalovsky said."They thought the media market would develop here [in Ukraine] and they could do journalism, which they can't in Russia," Kiselev said, adding that the founders of TVi also thought Ukraine's intensely politicized culture, and the close connections between business and politics, offered an opportunity to make money.He also said that his work on a new television channel had not been an attempt to harm anyone in Moscow."This program [Itogi (Conclusions) broadcast on NTV] isn't an effort to jab a needle into the bottom of any Russian leader, despite my skeptical attitude towards many of them," the journalist said.The owners of the TVi channel expressed hope TVi would be broadcast throughout Ukraine by the autumn, and added that at the moment, the channel was is available free only in half-a-dozen eastern and southern cities.Igor Malashenko, who ran Gusinsky's media empire at its height and is now a "senior counselor" at TVi, in turn said in an interview with the newspaper that he regretted that he had failed to persuade Gusinsky to refrain from confronting then Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2000-2001."I knew Gusinsky was wrong and I told him so, but I let him overrule me," Malashenko said.He also said he wished that he and Gusinsky had, like the more pliant oligarchs, found a way to do a deal with Putin and continue working in Russia.
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