Ivan Urgant has not returned to air on Pervyj Kanal, the first Russian channel, since February 24, the day of the invasion of Ukraine by the Kremlin army. And probably the host will never return to the air, after on Instagram he had expressed his position against the conflict in Ukraine and the tightening of the laws in Russia on freedom of expression that prohibit even the mere use of the word “war” to describe that. which the Kremlin calls instead a “special operation” against Kiev. Known in Italy for the satirical show «Ciao», Urgant was broadcast on Pervyj Kanal with «Evening Urgant», a late show also known in the English tradition «Channel One». The program had disappeared from Pervyj Kanal’s schedule shortly after Urgant’s post on Instagramleaving room for alternative programming made up of celebratory concerts, war films and patriotic commemorations.
Over the next few days, as he well tells Tvblog, the schedule of the first Russian channel went on broadcasting cooking programs, «The Voice junior», and documentaries of various kinds. Already on February 25, a tweet appeared on the Twitter profile of the show that hastily tried to extinguish the rumors, raised above all by the latest independent media active in Russia, about the possible closure of the program, broadcast since 2012. In that tweet, the viewers who asked for explanations on the non-airing of the show «that we took a break for a few days. The editors of the program are working on future releases as usual. See you soon on the air! ». However, some days have now become two weeks.
