Woolrich Uk Parka Dmitry Peskov

Russian prosecutors launch inquiry about top independent TV sta over a poll about WW Two

In this Monday, Jan. 35, 2014 photo a man dressed in WWII Soviet Army consistent holds a replica of Soviet Victory Flag on a roof of TV Rain head office late Monday, in Moscow within a protest picket. Several Russian cable and satellite providers have removed a top independent television channel from other packages after it went a poll asking the viewers if the Soviets should have surrendered Leningrad for the Nazis to avoid more than a million accidents during the WWII siege. (Elp Photo/ Mikhail Dukhovich)

In this Monday, Jan. 28, 2014 photo a man dressed up in WWII Soviet Army uniform holds a replica of Soviet Victory Flag on a roof Woolrich Uk Parka top of TV Rain headquarters late Monday, in Moscow after a protest picket. Several Russian satellite and cable providers have removed a premier independent television channel using their company packages after it leaped a poll asking the crowd if the Soviets should have surrendered Leningrad for the Nazis to avoid more than a million fatalities during the WWII Barbour Jackets Uk Stockists siege. (Elp Photo/ Longchamp Totes Discount Mikhail Dukhovich)

MOSCOW Prosecutors on Thursday opened a strong inquiry into Russia's top impartial TV station over a survey that asked a question about World War II regarded by some seeing that historical sacrilege.

The controversy over the Dozhd section reflects the challenges faced because of the few media outlets away from the Kremlin control. It also shows exactly how divisive history issues can be in this Russia.

Dozhd, which broadcasts on the net, cable and satellite channels, asked in case the Soviets should have surrendered Leningrad to the Nazis to avoid the more than 1 million massive that followed.

President Vladimir Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said Wednesday that the poll crossed a moral "red line," but may not have been illegal. That did not stop prosecutors from opening an inquiry Thursday on whether or not the station violated the law.

At the same time, Russia's media oversight agency cautioned Dozhd that it violated a legal provision that requires the media to regard the public.

Without waiting for the results of the official probe, several top cable and satellite providers cut Dozhd from their packages, a move that Dozhd's manager, Nataliya Sindeyeva, attributed to pressure from mysterious government officials.

While Dozhd's achieve is small compared to state manipulated nationwide television stations, many experts have very popular among the urban middle class that was the driving force powering massive protests in Moscow for 2011 2012 against Putin's re selection. The station's eagerness to give the flooring to opposition leaders along with its critical reporting long makes it a thorn in the Kremlin's side.

This poll that ran Weekend touched on one of the most tragic pages in the nation's history, the 872 day Nazi siege of Leningrad in which began Discount Longchamp Totes in September 1941. More than 1 million city people died, most of starvation, plus the city's resistance has become a major symbol of the country's suffering along with heroism during WW II.

Battle historians have argued over time about whether the heavy passing away toll could have been avoided. Yet Dozhd's attempt to thrust the issue within public debate struck any raw nerve and received a quick and angry reaction from officials. Some congress in the Kremlin controlled parliament immediately called for the station's closure.

"This (poll) is not only just immoral, but it is sacrilegious," stated Vladimir Radin, a Communist, who was among several grouped lawmakers who sent formed urging prosecutors to look into the matter. "I would certainly even say it directly broke the law."

Dozhd quickly took back the poll from its web site and apologized, but that failed to end the station's troubles.

"The circumstance began moving in the following track: all of a sudden, our partners cable television networks first started warning us all that they are going to disconnect all of us and then started actually disconnecting all of us," Dozhd's editor, Mikhail Zygar, told The actual Associated Press.

Both Sindeyeva as well as Zygar alleged that the networks' action appeared to have been instigated by the Kremlin, where by they said some officials whom they wouldn't name were indignant at the station for broadcast a report about expensive land residences owned by officials along with lawmakers.

"The story began in 2009 when we ran a series of undercover reports about property properties of various lawmakers belonging to the (primary Kremlin) United Russia party and functionaries of the presidential administration," Zygar mentioned.