Russia Launches 'Patriotic' TV Channel

[ckramer]

MOSCOW -- Russia's Defense Ministry has launched experimental broadcasts of a new TV channel intended to boost military prestige and counter negative reports of hazing, desertions and corruption in the armed forces, its creators said Monday.

The new channel -- Zvezda or "Star" -- is aimed at developing "the feeling of national pride among its citizens ... a feeling of responsibility for Russia's fate and pride for the nation's great historic past and belief in its future," producers said in a news release.

"Zvezda is about the belief that our country is the most beautiful in the world, that our history is the most heroic and that the future is in our hands," said Ivan Kononov, a TV journalist and one of Zvezda's creators.

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