Zvezda ( rus, Звезда, t= heStar, p=zvʲɪˈzda, a=Ru-звезда.ogg) is a Russian

state-owned State ownership, also called public ownership or government ownership, is the ownership of an industry, asset, property, or enterprise by the national government of a country or state, or a public body representing a community, as opposed to ...

nationwide TV network run by the Russian Ministry of Defence. As of January 2008, Zvezda's CEO was Grigory Krichevsky; Krichevsky is previously known for his work on Vladimir Gusinsky's NTV channel in the late 1990s.

History

In 1998, Central Television and Radio Studio of the Russian Ministry of Defense won the tender to broadcast the channel in the competition. On July 17, 2000, Zvezda channel was licensed for broadcasting. On February 20, 2005, Zvezda channel first began broadcasting on UHF channel 57 in Moscow. On May 16, 2005, the channel began to broadcast around the clock. In 2006, Zvezda was for the first time broadcast in all of Russia. In 2007, the audience of the channel grew further, as it was included in the package of NTV+. Since 2009, Zvezda is a federal status channel. In March 2015, Zvezda offered a presenting job to

Jeremy Clarkson Jeremy Charles Robert Clarkson (born 11 April 1960) is an English television presenter, journalist, farmer, and author who specialises in Driving, motoring. He is best known for hosting the television programmes ''Top Gear (2002 TV series), T ...

less than 24 hours after he was dismissed by the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

from motoring programme ''Top Gear''. On 1 September 2015, Zvezda began broadcasting in 16:9 widescreen format.

Controversies

Zvezda describes itself as "patriotic" and is considered one of the most sensational and anti-Western news channels in Russia. It has a reputation for publishing biased news stories which favor the Russian government and whitewash Soviet crimes of the past. It has published several controversial news articles. Examples include: * Finnish military provocations started the

Winter War The Winter War was a war between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet invasion of Finland on 30 November 1939, three months after the outbreak of World War II, and ended three and a half months later with the Moscow Peac ...

against the Soviet Union * Czechoslovakia should be grateful for the Soviet invasion of 1968. After this publication caused significant controversy in Czech Republic,

Dmitry Medvedev Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev (born 14 September 1965) is a Russian politician and lawyer who has served as Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of Russia since 2020. Medvedev was also President of Russia between 2008 and 2012 and Prime Mini ...

disavowed himself from the article, saying it does not reflect the official Russian statement expressed in 1993 or 2006. In 2014–15, Zvezda employed Graham Phillips, a British journalist accused of promoting the Russian narrative in the

war in Donbas The war in Donbas, or the Donbas war, was a phase of the Russo-Ukrainian War in the eastern Donbas region of Ukraine. The war Timeline of the war in Donbas (2014), began in April 2014, when Russian separatist forces in Ukraine, Russian para ...

and who was banned from

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

for his work. StopFake reported that Phillips was awarded a medal by Russia's Border Guard, a branch of the FSB, a Russian intelligence agency. They reported that Zvezda published an article in July 2015 on the MH17 airplane shot down above Ukraine in 2014 by pro-Russian fighters, which used Phillips' video and witness testimony to assert that the plane was instead shot down by Ukrainian jets. In March 2023, the channel reportedly cut a clip, posted on

Telegram Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas pi ...

, in which defence minister Sergei Shoigu did not respond to a question from a Zvezda journalist regarding the peace negotiations in the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Sanctions

Zvezda was sanctioned by the Ukrainian government on 21 May 2021, with an official report referring to the channel as producing "news content in accordance with Kremlin policy to justify Russia's actions".

Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan, officially the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia lying in the Tian Shan and Pamir Mountains, Pamir mountain ranges. Bishkek is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Kyrgyzstan, largest city. Kyrgyz ...

and

Turkmenistan Turkmenistan is a landlocked country in Central Asia bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the south and southwest and the Caspian Sea to the west. Ash ...

blocked the channel in May 2022. In October 2022, the Canadian government sanctioned Zvezda amid the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

. In June 2023, the European Union added Zvezda to its list of sanctions.

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Zvezda (Tv Channel) Russian-language television stations in Russia Television channels and stations established in 2005 2005 establishments in Russia Ministry of Defence (Russia) Military broadcasting