Russia To Launch New Islamic TV Channel

The channel will be dedicated to broadcasting in the Russian language about Islamic topics for Russia's Muslim population.

MOSCOW -- Russia plans to establish a new Islamic television channel for the country's Muslims in August.

The deputy chairman of the Russian Muslim’s Religious Directorate for European Regions, Damir Mukhitdinov, told RFE/RL that the new channel’s name will be Al-TV.

He said it would be dedicated to broadcasting in the Russian language about Islamic topics for Russia's Muslim population.

A public religious council consisting of leading Kremlin-backed Islamic clerics will oversee the channel’s activities.

The plans for the new Islamic television channel were announced a week after Mufti Ildus Faizov of Russia’s mainly Muslim republic of Tatarstan was injured in a car bombing and his former deputy and close associate Valiulla Yakupov was shot dead near his house in Kazan.