The Dozhd TV channel is suspending the production of the State Department program, hosted by Ksenia Sobchak, the channel’s general director Natalya Sindeeva told Interfax on Monday.

“The program is under no circumstances being closed. We are suspending it to reformat it. The format that exists does not work. We have a desire to do the program differently,” Sindeeva explained.

Earlier on Monday, the Ekho Moskvy radio station, citing Yuri Grymov, producer of the Dozhd TV channel, reported that the State Department program was being closed. Grymov explained the closure of the program by saying that it needs improvement and a change in concept. At the same time, he emphasized that “The State Department” will return to the air in a modified form next season.

The first episode of the political talk show “State Department” was released on MTV in February 2012. The program was attended by oppositionists Sergei Udaltsov and Ilya Yashin. Sobchak invited Alexei Navalny to the second program, after which the show was taken off the air and closed. After that, “The State Department” began to appear on the website of the Snob magazine and the RBC channel, and then moved to the Dozhd TV channel.

Dozhd suspends production of Ksenia Sobchak’s program “State Department”