The Prime Minister of Ukraine Arseniy Yatsenyuk has instructed the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine, the Ministry of Information Policy of Ukraine and the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine to allocate 5 million UAH for payment of the debt of the Crimean Tatar TV channel ATR to the Swedish company SES ASTRA AB (Astra A4).
He declared about this during the meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers on 10 March 2016.
“I ask the Ministry of finance together with the Ministry of information policy … so as to pay off the debt in 5 million UAH as soon as possible”, – said the Prime Minister.
The Prime Minister noted that this order also applies to the Ministry of social policy as the manager of the state budget means for the support of the Crimean Tatars.
According to the Minister of information policy Yurii Stets, in the course of negotiations with the Swedish company SES ASTRA AB, to which the TV channel has run into debt of about 10 million, it was agreed that ATR channel will not cease its broadcasting while the debt issue is being solved.
“Despite the fact that this is a commercial TV channel, the Ukrainian authorities must guarantee and find funds in the budget of the country to the world’s only Crimean Tatar TV channel, which professes honesty and speaks of the dignity of the Crimean Tatar people, not to disappear from the air”, – said Stets.