Yeltsins wife to co-chair Russias Culture channel

MOSCOW Naina Yeltsin, wife of Russian President Boris Yeltsin, has agreed to co-chair the countrys newly designated Culture (Kultura) channel, set to debut in November on the national frequency formerly held by St. Petersburg Channel 5.

MOSCOW — Naina Yeltsin, wife of Russian President Boris Yeltsin, has agreed to co-chair the country’s newly designated Culture (Kultura) channel, set to debut in November on the national frequency formerly held by St. Petersburg Channel 5.

The appointment of the 65-year-old Yeltsin, who has played only a limited public role to date, is certain to elevate the venture’s public importance, as well as be a potentially valuable fundraising opportunity for what has been promised as an advertising-free channel.

Newly appointed head of the Culture channel Mikhail Shvydkoi, the former Vice Minister of Culture, made the announcement at a press conference in Moscow on Tuesday. The event was given by leading musician Mstislav Rostropovich to announce a musical awards program that he will be supporting.

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Rostropovich, a leading figure in the culture world of independent Russia, was one of the main initiators of the idea for the channel in conversations with Boris Yeltsin earlier this year. However, when Shvydkoi invited him to co-chair the post with Yeltsin, he asked for time to consider the decision, as well as suggesting that the Russian president himself should assume a role at the channel.

Culture channel will be administered from Moscow instead of St. Petersburg — a move that has given rise to criticism in the country’s second city, which is known officially as its cultural capital — and will be under the aegis of Russian TV RTR, the only other fully state-owned channel in the country.

Programming plans for the channel remain unclear.

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