Russia To Launch New Islamic TV Channel
By RFE RL
(RFE/RL) — Russia plans to establish a new Islamic television channel for the country’s Muslims in August.
The deputy chairman of the Russian Muslim’s Religious Directorate for European Regions, Damir Mukhitdinov, told RFE/RL that the new channel’s name will be Al-TV.
He said it would be dedicated to broadcasting in the Russian language about Islamic topics for Russia’s Muslim population.
A public religious council consisting of leading Kremlin-backed Islamic clerics will oversee the channel’s activities.
The plans for the new Islamic television channel were announced a week after Mufti Ildus Faizov of Russia’s mainly Muslim republic of Tatarstan was injured in a car bombing and his former deputy and close associate Valiulla Yakupov was shot dead near his house in Kazan.
