Rain, Rain, Go Away

Last opposition-friendly TV channel faces closure

The television channel Dozhd (“Rain”), a privately owned outlet that broadcasts via the internet and satellite, found itself in hot water in January.

During commemorative events for the seventieth anniversary of the 1944 lifting of the Siege of Leningrad, Dozhd asked its viewers to participate in a phone-in poll on the question, “Should we have given up Leningrad [to Fascist Germany] to save thousands of lives?” The question was also posted on the channel's website and social networking pages.