The open letter from Ukraine’s leading broadcasters, published by ceetv.net two days of ago, has received a response from Konstantin Ernst, GM of Previy, Oleg Dobrodeev, GM of VGTRK, and Vladimir Kulistikov, GM of NTV Russia.

In answer to the appeal to be more objective, the leaders of the Russian channels addressed their colleagues with the same request. ‘Let’s be objective and responsible, let’s ponder our words, and hold our emotions at bay; let’s do this together, and not apart like it has been lately.’

The leaders of the Russian channels accused Ukraine of discrimination of the Russian language and creating obstacles for Russian journalists. According to them, in regions that are controlled by new government, ‘the journalists have been getting threats of not just punishment, but lawless slaughter.’ As the authors suggest, no one bothers Ukrainian journalists from doing their job in Russia.’

The letter suggests that the word ‘war’ became relevant in ‘one and undivided great Slavic television space’ in that precise moment when the ‘new people’ in Ukraine began discriminating Russian language. Ernst, Dobrodeev and Kulistikov assume that if the Ukrainian colleagues came out with a similar statement then, some of the current events might have been prevented.

The message ends with wishes to ‘patch things up’ and a promise that ‘we are always with you and will always help’.