Zurab Alasania, the head of NTU, Ukraine's national TV and radio company has resigned, complaining that the country is having troubles financing next year’s Eurovision song contest scheduled to run in the capital Kiev. Ukraine's Cabinet of Ministers accepted Alasania's resignation yesterday (Nov. 2), the Interfax Ukraine news agency reported.
In an interview with the online newspaper Ukrainskaya Pradva, Alasania named underfunding of the company, which is Eurovision's broadcast partner, as the main reason for his resignation.
"Overcoming the resistance of bureaucrats is very difficult, and we didn't complain until recently," Alasania was quoted as saying. "But now we are just desperate. We wouldn't be able to organize Eurovision in 2017."