Russia TV broadcasts cut back in Belarus

Authorities in Belarus halted broadcasts of two Russian radio stations andsharply cut back air time on three Russian TV networks Tuesday, a movecritics of President Alexander Lukashenko saw as a power play on the eve ofhis visit to Moscow.The deputy chairman of the state TV network, Alexander Zimovsky, said theaction was taken because the companies affected - radio stations Mayak andYunost and TV stations RTR, NTV and Kultura - owed money for the broadcastof their programs in Belarus. "It is an economic decision," he said.Representatives of the Russian TV networks in Belarus said they hadreceived no warning before their air time was slashed.Zhanna Litvina, the president of the Belarusian Association of Journalists,called it a political move by the authoritarian president, who wasscheduled to meet in Moscow on Wednesday with Russian President VladimirPutin, the Russia Journal reported..