Russian President Vladimir Putin has criticized the Russian TV channels for insufficient covering of the key sporting events, in particular the first European Games in Baku, RIA Novosti news agency reported.
"How come the President of the Olympic Committee of Russia Alexander Zhukov has just sent me a message that the first European Games in Baku is nevertheless an event in world sports while no one, not a single our channel wanted to cover them in our media?" Putin said at the meeting of Presidential Sports Council.
"I understand that there are some restrictions related to the current budget situation... but there are key things, this is an event in world sports - the first-ever European Games," he said.
"It's still necessary to determine some priorities," Putin said. "It seems the current system of organization of sports of high achievements, information provision is still not perfect."
Baku 2015 is the first-ever European Games, an exciting and innovative multi-sport event for the continent that will take place from 12 - 28 June 2015.
There will be a total of 20 sports at Baku 2015: 16 Olympic sports and four non-Olympic sports. Almost 6,000 athletes from across Europe will be representing their nations over 17 days of competition.
The European Olympic Committees (EOC) awarded Baku the games in December 2012. The Baku European Games Operations Committee (BEGOC) will organize and run the Games in cooperation with the EOC.