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The National Council on Television and Radio Broadcasting (National TV Council) believes that local councils do not have the right to order cable operators to continue broadcasting Russian television channels and ignore the National TV Council's decision to end the re-broadcasting of foreign television programs that are not dubbed into the Ukrainian language.

The National TV Council's chairman Vitaliy Shevchenko announced this at a news briefing.

"It is obvious that it is not in their competence to decide what should be done on the information airwaves, who should broadcast, on the basis of which documents, and, in particular, to directly call for violation of Ukrainian legislation," Shevchenko said.

He stressed that implementation of the decisions of the National Council on Television and Radio Broadcasting is mandatory throughout the territory of Ukraine.

Shevchenko said that Zaporizhia regional council has declared illegal the National Council on Television and Radio Broadcasting's decision to end the re-broadcasting of foreign television programs that are not dubbed into the Ukrainian language.

He stressed that the National TV Council would demand the proper response from the relevant organs if it received such official and illegal decisions from local government organs.

As Ukrainian News earlier reported, deputies of the Simferopol municipal council ordered Simferopol-based cable-television operators on November 7 to continue broadcasting Russian television channels and ignore the National TV Council's decision to end the re-broadcasting of foreign television programs that are not dubbed into the Ukrainian language.

The National Council on Television and Radio Broadcasting has temporarily allowed the television company called "Channel One. Worldwide Network" (Russia) to rebroadcast its television programs in Ukrainian cable networks.

On October 1, the National TV Council adopted its decision No. 1738 entitled "On Non-Fulfillment of the National Council's Decisions and Articles 40 and 42 of the Law on Television and Radio Broadcasting by Program Providers," which, among other things, orders all television providers to stop re-broadcasting foreign television programs that are not dubbed into the Ukrainian language.