Leading Russian broadcasters suspend EBU membership - joint statement

MOSCOW. Feb 26 (Interfax) - Channel One Russia, All-Russia State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company (VGTRK) and Radio Dom Ostankino have decided to suspend their membership of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), they said in a joint statement.

"VGTRK, Channel One and Radio Dom Ostankino are suspending their membership in the European Broadcasting Union. This decision has been ripening over the past few years as the organization's work was getting increasingly politicized," the statement said.

The barring of Russia is the latest but by no means the first such decision related to the Eurovision song contest, they said.

"Thus, in 2016 the winner was the 1944 song, which is an open political manifesto. Several years later the organizers of the contest disqualified Belarus (I'll teach you), citing politics precisely," the statement said.

"These are just two examples from a long catalogue of similar ones, where the contest organizers approached the interpreting of the term 'politics' in a biased and selective fashion,' the statement said.

"The EBU is fulfilling the will of the European Union even though half its members are not in the EU," it said.

"Regrettably, the EBU has turned into a club whose members are not treated equally. And we consider it impossible for us to stay in it any longer."

The statement was signed by Channel One general director Konstantin Ernst, VGTRK general director Oleg Dobrodeyev and the general director of Russian Music TV and Radio Center, Irina Gerasimova.