SIMFEROPOL -- Crimea's only periodical in the Ukrainian language has suspended operations, RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service reports.
The editor in chief of the "Krymska Svitlytsya Weekly," Viktor Kachula, told RFE/RL that Tavrida Publishing House cited overdue debts in refusing to print the latest issue.
He suggested the newspaper had had difficulties meeting obligations connected with its office lease, phone, and Internet services after Ukraine's Ministry of Culture stopped financing the periodical in April.
Editors of the weekly have appealed to President Viktor Yushchenko and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, urging them to resume the weekly's financing.
It marks the first time that "Krymska Svitlytsya Weekly," which has been operating since 1992, has had to suspend publication.