There is Almost No Russian Content on Armenian Television, Says Head of RTR

Today, there is almost no Russian content on television channels that broadcast in Armenia and the capital. This was announced at a press conference by Tigran Hakobyan, the chairman of the Television and Radio Commission (TRC).

According to him, they are aware of the dissatisfaction among citizens regarding the prevalence of broadcasts in foreign languages, especially in Russian.

“6-7 years ago, up to 80% of the content, including all the films and the vast majority of programs and even interviews, were in Russian. We believe that we have taken significant steps to ensure Armenia's linguistic security,” he noted.

Hakobyan mentioned that a major issue for them is the doubt within the media, political forces, and society about the commission's independence, and that decisions may come from “above.”

“It is clear that none of the commission's members can make promises, believing or not believing is your right, but I repeat once again that we make decisions independently,” he said.

He insisted that there have been attempts to interfere with their work, but even recently, such attempts have diminished as people realize they are ineffective and contradict the values the commission is trying to adopt.