China’s CCTV to Launch Russian Programming

China’s Central Television will launch a Russian-language channel, the TV’s Vice-President Zhang Changming told reporters Thursday. He indicated that the main objective for the international channel in Russian will be to consolidate mutual understanding, cooperation and exchanges between the People’s Republic of China and the former Soviet republics making up the Commonwealth of Independent States. Following the establishment of strategic partnership relations between China and Russia, the tendency towards a full-format, steady and healthy development of this relationship has taken hold, Zhang said.

The Russian channel will lift off on the background of gala events dedicated to the Year of the Russian language in China and the 60th anniversary since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the People’s Republic and the former USSR. Russian will be the sixth international language, in which TV programs will be broadcast from Beijing. At this moment, the Central Television has international channels in Chinese, English, French, Spanish and Arabic. Future plans indicate the opening of a channel in Portuguese.