Russian state-owned media to get extra $126 million in funding

Two of the biggest Russian state-owned media organizations, VGTRK and Channel One, are about to get an injection of 7 billion rubles ($126.5 million) from the federal budget.

Leonid Levin, the head of the Duma's committee on the mass media, says the additional support is vital to maintaining the stations' on-scene news coverage, explaining that the added help from the government is necessary, as Russia's advertisement market shrinks and the ruble remains weak.

The Duma is expected to approve the budget amendment on July 1.

“The situation that has developed in our country's information sector demands the Duma's intervention,” said Levin.

Interfax

• In January 2015, Russian officials announced plans to boost spending on improving the country's position globally in “information exchange.” The budget for these efforts would rise from 45.7 billion to 69 billion rubles (from $826.4 million to $1.24 billion) between 2015 and 2017. One news story claimed that an additional 23 billion rubles ($415.9 million) was being earmarked for state-run media agency Rossiya Segodnya and the TV channel RT (Formerly known as Russia Today). Federal officials denied this story, however.
• Also earlier this year, however, the newspaper Vedomosti reported that funding for state-owned media outlets in 2015 would fall by 17.3 percent.