Russia’s top election official has asked one of the country’s most-watched networks to postpone Oliver Stone’s four-part “Putin Interviews” until after the presidential elections.
Putin’s challengers Ksenia Sobchak and Grigory Yavlinsky have separately complained to Russia’s Central Elections Commission that broadcasting the “Putin Interviews” amounted to illegal campaigning ahead of the March 18 presidential vote.
The first two episodes of the documentary aired on state-television this week, and the remaining two episodes are scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday evening.
“[Channel One] should act with due diligence” to avoid claims of impropriety, the Vedomosti business daily quoted the head of Russia’s Central Elections Commission, Ella Pamfilova, as saying.
Stone’s documentary, nevertheless, does not contain calls to vote or other election-related information, Pamfilova said on Wednesday.
The “Putin Interviews” first aired in Russia in mid-2017. Stone has since faced criticism for not challenging the Russian president and lobbing softball questions at him.
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