KREMLIN UNHAPPINESS CAUSES MOSCOW'S "DOMASHNIY"

C O N F I D E N T I A L MOSCOW 010605 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR EUR/RUS, DRL E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/21/2016 TAGS: PGOV PHUM KDEM SOCI RS SUBJECT: KREMLIN UNHAPPINESS CAUSES MOSCOW'S "DOMASHNIY" CHANNEL TO PULL TALK SHOW Classified By: Polmincouns Alice G. Wells. Reasons: 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) Ekho Moskvy Editor-in-Chief Aleksey Venediktov confirmed to Embassy September 19 that a newly-minted television program hosted by him and telejournalist Svetlana Sorokina had been pulled from the air following a September 10 episode that the authorities had apparently found too controversial. According to Venediktov the program, "V kruge sveta," was the brainchild of STS Media Director Aleksandr Rodnyanskiy who for more than one year had lobbied his friends Venediktov and Sorokina to be its hosts. Both had resisted Rodnyanskiy's overtures, said Venediktov, because they thought the "Domashniy" target audience would not be interested in an edgy political program. ("Domashniy" generally confines itself to lifestyle programming.) Sorokina and Venediktov agreed only when Rodnyanskiy promised them that the only off-limits subject would be President Putin. ¶2. (C) The program debuted September 2 and aired only four times before, according to Venediktov, running afoul of the Kremlin. The September 11 program that triggered "V kruge sveta's" cancellation was devoted to jury trials and featured as guests publicist Marietta Chudakova and lawyer Genrikh Pavda. The two, with hosts Venediktov and Sorokina, conducted a no holds-barred discussion touching on sentences meted out to Chechen nationals in Russia, verdicts in hate crime trials, the recent disturbances in Kondopoga, and the Ulman case. Putin's name, said Venediktov, was not mentioned, but Russia's experiment with jury trials was termed a failure. ¶3. (C) Domashniy's general director warned Venediktov September 13 that the program was in trouble, and on September 15, the director told Venediktov that Presidential Administration Chief Vladislav Surkov had called Alfa Group head Petr Aven (Alfa Group is part owner of STS Media),who pressured Rodnyanskiy. Rodnyanskiy agreed to pull the program. "Aiding" Rodnyanskiy's decision to cancel the program, according to Venediktov, was a recent comment allegedly made by President Putin to Aven about Rodnyanskiy's "untrustworthiness." Said Venediktov, "Rodnyanskiy understands completely that his continued survival at STS depends on Putin." Venediktov was philosophical about the cancellation, complaining only that his friend Rodnyanskiy had to date not called him to apologize. ¶4. (C) Comment: The cancellation of "V kruge sveta" is another example of the Kremlin's sensitivity to even indirect media criticism. After only four episodes, it is unlikely that the program had acquired a significant viewing audience and the discussion, although freewheeling, steered clear of the Presidential Administration, but was evidently unflattering enough to cause Surkov to pick up the phone. BURNS