United Opposition to transfer Hr 2 million to TVi for repayment of debts

The Batkivschyna United Opposition has decided to cut its election budget by Hr 2 million and transfer the money to the TVi Channel so that it can cover its debts.

"You know that the authorities are switching the channel [TVi] off day by day. And they ascribed to the channel a strange debt to the national budget of around Hr 4 million," Head of the Council of the Batkivschyna United Opposition Arseniy Yatseniuk told journalists on Friday.

He noted that a criminal case was opened against the channel and "now they're trying to do everything to close the channel."

"That's why the united opposition took this decision. Ukrainians have raised some Hr 2 million to give to the [Ukrainian President Viktor] Yanukovych regime, so as to prevent the channel's being switched off. The united opposition approved the following decision – to cut the funding of its election campaign and transfer an additional Hr 2 million to stop the switching off of the TVi channel, and to save an independent channel in the country," Yatseniuk said.