A popular Russian gameshow host has been kicked off state TV after he publicly criticised Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine.
Alexander Gurevich, 57, posted a comment to his fans declaring: “This war must be stopped! Stop!
“For me it is absolutely impossible to have fun and joke against the background of a huge tragedy, without noticing what is happening.”
In the wake of his comments, access to past episodes of his popular Rossiya 1 channel weekly gameshow Hundred to One, similar to America’s Family Feud, were removed.
Mr Gurevich, whose family on his wife’s side has Ukrainian roots, has left the channel.
“My (late) mother-in-law was born in Odessa and lived in Kharkiv for a long time,” he said in his written statement.
“How would she listen to today's information reports about the death of soldiers, about explosions, that civilians in Kyiv and Kharkiv spend the night in the subway, fleeing the war?"
Mr Gurevich said she would have demanded a stop the gruesome scenes, the likes of which were last seen during the Second World War.
The TV host said he believed gameshow participants would not want to take part in a fun show during the war.
Episodes currently being screened were filmed before the conflict began in February, he said.
“Shell explosions, human casualties, people leaving their homes and fleeing the shelling - I apologise to anyone for whom the hilarity of our programme seems, like me, completely inappropriate these days,” he said.
The show was first broadcast in Russia in 1995 and turned Mr Gurevich into a well-known presenter, showman, producer and director.
Much of Russian TV is now owned by the state, with independent broadcasters subject to laws which tightly control what can and can't be said.
In the past two months increasingly inflammatory comments have been made by Kremlin-backing presenters.
This week well-known journalist Vladimir Solovyov alleged that images and reports about invading troops committing genocide in Ukraine are being shown in the UK to prepare the British public for a nuclear attack on Moscow.
He claimed the images of tortured and people and destroyed homes and towns were simply to sway public opinion in the UK against Moscow.
The BBC's Francis Scarr, who works in the Monitoring department, said the claims were broadcast on the highly-controlled state TV on Monday night.
Mr Solovyov tells the guests in the studio: "It's the perfect option for the West.
"Not America as it would be a pity for them [to be hit in retaliation], but Britain strikes the country which is guilty of genocide, and which is upsetting poor, unhappy Zelensky.
"It also becomes clear that we've taken out a load of British instructors in Ukraine.
"And Britain, which possesses nuclear weapons, strikes us with tactical nukes."
